A life of bling-bling and bunga bunga: crooner, businessman and television man, Silvio Berlusconi, who died at the age of 86, profoundly marked the political landscape of his country, a “success story” at the Italian city riddled with numerous scandals, between greatness and decadence.
The billionaire died of leukemia at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, where he was admitted again on Friday after multiple stays.
If he led his country for nine years as head of government, his last dream, to become President of the Republic, was shattered in January 2022, for lack of support in Parliament.
A central figure in Italian politics, whose conservative Forza Italia party belongs to the coalition led by Giorgia Meloni, Silvio Berlusconi has caused trouble by multiplying Russophile statements since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Close friend of Vladimir Putin, who gave him 20 bottles of vodka for his last birthday in September, he assured that the master of the Kremlin wanted to overthrow the government of Kiev to put in place “good people”.
The career of this media magnate has often been compared to that of Donald Trump, another entrepreneur and populist leader who did not hide his admiration for Berlusconi. After the violence on Capitol Hill in 2021, the Italian, however, clearly distanced himself from the American.
Grandilomic, he himself wanted to enter the annals of history as “the best political leader in Europe and in the world”.
Silvio Berlusconi dominated Italian politics for two decades despite the sex scandals and court cases that tarnished his image.
For millions of Italians it represents a golden age of the peninsular economy.
Son of a Milanese bank employee, born September 29, 1936, Silvio Berlusconi made his debut as an entertainer on cruise ships where, as a handsome young man, he sang and, already, told funny stories.
With a law degree in hand, he went into business: an irresistible rise began.
television genius
But it is especially in television that the creative genius of this great communicator is expressed, who does not hesitate, in the 1980s, to sprinkle his programs with naked women.
The Berlusconi family’s holding company, Fininvest, includes television channels (MediaForEurope), newspapers and Mondadori publishing.
A football fan, he also chaired AC Milan for 31 years before selling it in 2017 to Chinese investors.
On the strength of his success in the world of television, the “Cavaliere” – he was the youngest knight of the order of labor – launched himself into politics in 1994. In a few weeks, he set up Forza Italia (“Allez l’ Italy”) and won the elections.
Dropped by his allies, his government collapsed after seven months. In 2001, he regained power, which he retained until April 2006.
Worn out by these five years, he was narrowly beaten in the elections, but took resounding revenge two years later, taking command of the country for the third time.
In November 2011, however, he had to hand over to economist Mario Monti the reins of an Italy in the grip of a serious financial crisis.
Legal setbacks
In the spring of 2013, he reappeared on the political scene by winning a third of the votes in Parliament, a score which forced the left into a complicated alliance with its historical enemy.
At the beginning of October, a new setback: his ex-runner-up Angelino Alfano refuses to bring down the government. A split will follow between his followers when the billionaire is weakened by his legal setbacks.
In August 2013, he was definitively sentenced for the first time: his four-year prison sentence for tax evasion, three of which were waived by an amnesty, was confirmed by the Court of Cassation and he served it the year of afterwards in the form of work of general interest, losing in passing his title of Cavaliere.
As he has done for all these years in his many trials, he poses as a victim of the “red judges”.
Despite the insults, the ex-Cavaliere remained concerned about his appearance: dyed hair, eternal tan thanks to a thick layer of foundation, he has recourse without complex to cosmetic surgery.
His assumed taste for pretty women, including call girlsended up earning him in the spring of 2009 a resounding request for divorce from his second wife, Veronica Lario.
He will also be sentenced to seven years in prison for underage prostitution and abuse of power, for so-called “bunga-bunga” parties with the young Moroccan “Ruby” as heroine, before being definitively acquitted in 2015.
After six years, a court in Milan acquitted him in February 2023 in an additional trial, where he was accused of having bribed witnesses to lie about these sulphurous evenings.
Father of five children from two marriages and several times a grandfather, this extraordinary character had found a new companion in 2020: Marta Fascina, 53 years his junior, former model and deputy of Forza Italia.