UPDATE 2 – 3-time Italy premier, media mogul Silvio Berlusconi dies at 86

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By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) – Former Italian prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi died on Monday at 86, after dominating Italy’s political scene for three decades, despite a string of judicial troubles and sex scandals that marred his international image.

Berlusconi had been hospitalized at Milan's San Raffaele hospital last week due to complications linked to a chronic leukemia, after 45 days of hospitalization last month.

The news of the death was officialized by his TV network Mediaset, which aired a photo of the media tycoon smiling with the headline: “Berlusconi is dead.”

A state funeral will be held Wednesday in his home city Milan, at the central Duomo cathedral, while the government proclaimed a day of national mourning.

Berlusconi's health looked increasingly frail in the past few weeks and he was rushed to San Raffaele for a second time last Friday. His doctors tried to deliver a reassuring message on his health conditions, saying he was there for routine medical checks related to his already disclosed illness.

The three-time premier had suffered over the years from several health issues, including heart problems, prostate cancer and a severe COVID-19 infection in 2020.

- 'Farewell Silvio'

“Silvio Berlusconi was most of all a fighter. He was a man who has never been fearful of defending his convictions,” said Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a video message, commenting on his departure.

“His courage and determination were exactly what made him one of the most influential men in Italy’s history.

“With him we have fought, won and lost many battles. We will achieve the objectives that together we had determined also for him. Farewell Silvio,” she added.

Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella said in a statement that “Berlusconi has been a great political leader who marked the history of our Republic, influencing paradigms, customs and language.”

Former Premier and ex-ECB head Mario Draghi, who headed a government supported also by Berlusconi’s party, praised the man’s innovative role in business and politics. “As an entrepreneur, he revolutionized the world of communication and sport, with an extraordinary drive for innovation and initiative. As a political leader he transformed politics and has been loved by millions of Italians for his humanity and charisma,” Draghi said.

Many messages from outside Italy poured in as well. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who was a close friend of Berlusconi, said he will be remembered in Russia as a “consistent and principled supporter of strengthening friendly relations between our countries.”

- Game-changer in media, politics, society

A media mogul-turned-politician, Berlusconi over the years imposed his revolutionary model of communication, conquering the durable role of kingmaker, despite a long string of judicial troubles and embarrassing sex scandals.

He was born in Milan on Sept. 29, 1936, to a middle-class family, and started his entrepreneurial career in the 1970s as a real estate developer, becoming considerably wealthy within a few years.

In 1980, he created Canale 5, Italy’s first commercial television network. With his newly-created TV stations dominating Italian airwaves by the end of the decade, Berlusconi diversified into different sectors from retail to publishing, as well as the AC Milan football team.

He eventually came to own more than 150 businesses, gathered under the Fininvest holding company.

Berlusconi turned his attention to politics in 1994, after the massive judicial investigation known as “Clean Hands” brushed off the old political class. He formed his own center-right party Forza Italia and, thanks to successful marketing strategies and strong communications skills, was elected prime minister in just a few months. His first tenure, however, did not go smoothly.

Soon after taking office in May 1994, magistrates launched a corruption investigation into his business empire, and disputes within the governing coalition culminated in the defection of his key Northern League ally. With a vote of no-confidence looming, Berlusconi resigned in December 1994.

He was later convicted of fraud and corruption, but the verdicts were later overturned. He remained at the head of Forza Italia despite heavy charges and wide criticism over his control of much of the country’s media – often denounced by his critics and political opponents.

A few years later, Berlusconi staged the first of his numerous political comebacks, promising tax cuts, more jobs, and higher pensions as he led a center-right coalition to victory in the 2001 national elections, and became premier again.

- Corruption and sex scandals

It took a fatal combination of the eurozone’s debt crisis, a bitter party split, and detailed accounts of his so-called “bunga-bunga” parties, featuring half-naked showgirls at his private residences, to push Berlusconi out of office for the last time in 2011, as protesters gathered in central Rome to celebrate his departure.

In 2013, the Italian Senate expelled Berlusconi over a tax fraud conviction stemming from his media business and he was banned from holding public office for five years. That marked his exit from the main political stage for a few months, convincing many observers it would be the end of his enduring political leadership.

But, despite suffering a heart attack that his doctor said could have killed him in 2016, and receiving emergency bowel surgery in 2019, Berlusconi was set for yet another surprising political comeback.

After serving a one-year sentence of community service due to the tax fraud conviction, a court ruled he could once again hold public office and he won a seat in the European Parliament in 2019, at the age of 82.

Berlusconi had been at the center of an endless series of investigations and trials since he entered politics. Of all these, only the 2013 guilty verdict for tax fraud remains against his name.

- Guarantor of stability

Over the past few years, the strong surge of nationalist populism in Italy gave Berlusconi – by many considered "the first populist” – a key opportunity to play the role of a responsible, pro-EU leader of a moderate center-right.

His European rehabilitation seemed finally sealed when his Forza Italia party joined a “national unity” coalition led by the former ECB president Draghi, as a guarantor of political stability.

With the latest national elections in September 2022, Berlusconi confirmed once again his pivotal role as part of the rightist bloc led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, who swept to victory and became the first female prime minister in the Italian Republic’s history.

The octogenarian media mogul also secured a parliamentary comeback, winning a seat in the Senate nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office.

As the government was formed, however, Berlusconi openly clashed with Meloni due to his close ties with Putin and his controversial comments over the Ukraine war.

His Forza Italia party, which finished right behind its other ally, the anti-immigrant Northern League of Matteo Salvini, ended up with no government positions. It will now face the eternal problem of finding a credible successor for a man that forged his party over his image and personality.

*Giovanni Legorano contributed to the report