Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman who created Italy's largest media company before transforming the political landscape, has died in Milan.
Berlusconi was admitted to a Milan hospital on Friday for what aides said were planned tests related to his leukemia. He died in hospital on Monday.
He had suffered ill health for years, from heart surgery in 2016 to a 2020 hospitalisation for coronavirus. Despite being re-elected to the Senate last year, he was rarely seen in public.
But he remained the official head of his right-wing Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party, a junior – and occasionally troublesome – partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition government.
Berlusconi led Italy four times between 1994 and 2011, for a total of nine years, wooing voters with a promise of economic success only to be forced out as a debt crisis gripped his country.
But his influence extended well beyond politics, thanks to his extensive TV, newspaper and sporting interests, while his playboy antics kept him in the headlines even in his final years.
Matteo Renzi, Italy's former prime minister and leader of the Italia Viva political party paid tribute to Berlusconi.
"Many loved him, many hated him: everyone today must recognise that his impact on political but also economic, sporting and television life was unprecedented," he wrote on Twitter.
In 1986, he saved his hometown football club AC Milan from bankruptcy.
The club won a host of domestic and European titles under Berlusconi's ownership.
"Thank you, Mr President. Always with us," the club said in a statement on Monday, adding it was "grieving the passing of the unforgettable Silvio Berlusconi".
French President Emmanuel Macron praised Berlusconi as a "major figure in contemporary Italy, who had occupied the centre stage of the political scene for many years," and offered "his sincere condolences to his relatives and the Italian people".
Bunga bunga parties
Charismatic, clownish and with a fine grasp of what his audiences wanted, Berlusconi used his media interests to project an image of a strong, self-made man that voters could emulate.
Berlusconi began his career as a real-estate magnate before investing in television channels which broke the mould in Italy, featuring shows particularly popular with housewives, later a pillar of his electorate.
He portrayed himself as both the messiah and a martyr and enjoyed widespread popularity, though detractors accused him of cronyism, corruption and pushing through laws to protect his own interests.
His fans admired his plain speaking, although many Italians were acutely embarrassed by his crude jokes and insults on the international stage, as well as his endless legal cases, which resulted in one conviction for corporate tax fraud.
While Italy's economy floundered, the self-professed playboy was hosting his notorious "bunga bunga" sex parties, which triggered a series of trials that were only wrapped up in recent months.
In 2010, 17-year-old Karima El-Mahroug, known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer", claimed to have been paid by Berlusconi for sex. He was later also accused of bribing witnesses to lie about the parties, although he was ultimately acquitted.
Berlusconi is survived by his 33-year-old girlfriend, Marta Fascina, two ex-wives and five children, some of whom help run his empire, recently estimated to be worth some seven billion dollars.
While it is too soon for details of his funeral, Berlusconi built a Pharaoh-inspired marble mausoleum at his villa in Arcore, near Milan, to house his family and friends when they die.
(with AFP)
