Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died

Silvio Berlusconi, the former head of the Italian government, the sulphurous billionaire known for political intrigue and his legal battles and sexual escapades, died on Monday at the age of 86.

The right-wing senator entered it on Friday after being treated at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan (North) for leukemia. A state funeral will be held in Milan Cathedral on Wednesday. The government declared a day of national mourning for the event.

Shortly after his death was announced, dozens of people gathered outside the hospital before his body was moved to his luxurious San Martino villa in Argore, a suburb of Milan, while tributes poured in from across Italy. , from abroad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed one of the first responders as a ‘loving person’ and a ‘true friend’ with ‘incredible vitality’, praising his ‘confidence’ and ‘humour’.

Silvio Berlusconi, a personal friend of Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly blamed Kiev for the war with Moscow.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, European Parliament President Roberta Metzola and European Council President Charles Michel offered their condolences to his family and friends.

“Silvio Berlusconi, who was associated with our country where he studied in his youth, along with his French colleagues, took part in reaffirming the ties between our two brotherly countries. A European journey born of centuries of shared history,” replied French President Emmanuel Macron.

The journey of this eternal spirit, whose political death has been wrongly declared several times, joins the last thirty years of Italian history.

He was also one of the richest people in the peninsula with valuable wealth at the beginning of April Forbes up to 6.4 billion euros.

Loved or hated, it is considered an amateur by women much younger than him, incl Call the girlsHe has been embroiled in countless cases related to controversial receptions.

Abroad, he is best known for the string of scandals he was involved in, his famous blunders, his repeated trials and his diplomatic stunts.

Pope Francis himself was hospitalized and hailed as a “strong character”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “a great friend of Israel” and Viktor Orbán, head of Hungary’s nationalist government, as “a great fighter”.

“Italy is crying”

While he was popular in Italy, the electoral victory machine he founded in 1994, Forza Italia, continued its slow decline, dropping from nearly 30% of the vote in the 2001 legislative elections to 8% in 2022.

In a video message, the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, praised his “courage” and his “determination”, calling him “one of the most influential men in Italian history”.

After starting his rise in Milan in the construction and public works sector, the unfailing entrepreneur successfully launched himself on television, discovering the glittering TV of the 1980s that would make his fortune, football clubs, AC Milan, then AC. Monza.

Beside corruption, Mr. Berlusconi was sentenced to seven years in prison for underage prostitution and abuse of power, where very young women were invited to “bunga-bunga” parties, and was finally released in 2015.

The octogenarian caused another scandal in December 2022 when his last teammate, Marta Fascina, 53 years his junior, promised to bring the “bus of war” “into the locker room” for his Monza players.

However, over the years, the carnivorous grin of “Gaiman,” one of his many nicknames, was frozen over his raised face with makeup “as thick as parquet,” the editor’s grim expression.

“Il Cavaliere”

Born September 29, 1936, the son of a Milanese banker, Berlusconi began working as an animator on cruise ships, where he sang and told funny stories.

Armed with a law degree, he ventured into business and began an inexorable rise that raised questions about the origins of his fortune, about which he was always unclear.

But above all his creative genius is revealed as a great communicator in the television industry, which sprinkles his shows with naked women.

there holding Fininvest, owned by the Berlusconi family, owns three TV channels, newspapers, Mondatori Editions and several other holdings.

Football fanatic Silvio Berlusconi led AC Milan for 31 years, which won the Champions League five times during his era, before being sold to Chinese investors in April 2017. “Thank you president, always with us,” the club responded on its website.

In 1994, he created Forza Italia and, following a lightning campaign for his media empire, became head of government before being ousted by his allies seven months later.

He returned to power in 2001 for five years, a post-war record. Beaten by a hair in 2006, he got his revenge a third time two years later. But in November 2011, he had to leave under the rule of Italy, which was in the grip of a severe financial crisis.

He re-emerged in the political arena in the 2013 assembly elections by securing almost one-third of the votes.

A few months later, his long legal setbacks led to his first final sentence for tax evasion: a year in prison – served in the form of community service in a nursing home -, six years of disqualification and expulsion from the Senate.

The father of five children from two marriages, he was a grandfather many times over.

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