Silvio Berlusconi: ‘bounce-back politician’ dies aged 86

Italy’s controversial former leader Silvio Berlusconi has died at the age of 86.

The senator and leader of the Forza Italia party had been admitted to hospital in Milan on Friday “for what aides said were pre-planned tests”, France 24 reported. He had been discharged last month after spending six weeks undergoing treatment for a lung infection linked to chronic leukaemia.

Berlusconi made his name as a media tycoon before entering politics, but gained notoriety for a string of “sex scandals, countless allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction”, said The Guardian. Yet he was elected prime minister three times and served for a total of nine years, “longer than anyone since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini”, said CNN.

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Berlusconi once described himself as the “Jesus Christ of politics” and was proud of his humble beginnings. The son of a housewife and a bank employee, he studied law at university.

Even as a student, however, he “demonstrated the ability to make money”, said the BBC. After a stint working in nightclubs and on cruise ships as a singer, he amassed “a huge fortune” from a real estate firm that he founded in his native Milan.

Following a successful career as a media magnate, Berlusconi entered politics, promising to “make Italy great again”. He went on to lead three governments between 1994 and 2011.

His “unbounded bravado, unique brand of politics and tumultuous career became a playbook for ambitious politicians around the world”, said France 24.

He was a “big Italian boy, a jokester and a scallywag, a rascal,” said Deutsche Wells, “just the way many Italians liked it”.

Yet he was also an “extraordinarily divisive figure in Italy”, said The Wall Street Journal. Scandals including his late-night “bunga bunga parties” with young women “eroded the popular and political standing” that Berlusconi had achieved earlier in his career.

He also suffered numerous health issues including heart problems. But in 2022, “nine years after he was banned from public office for tax fraud”, said the BBC, the “bounce-back politician” returned to the Senate after securing a seat in the general election.

With his death, “a piece of Italian history” ends, said La Repubblica, “In the last fifty years, there hasn’t been a day in which his name hasn’t been mentioned. It is hard to imagine an Italy without him.”