FORMER ITALY PRIME minister Silvio Berlusconi is dead, leaving behind a trail of controversial and bizarre headlines, court rulings and comebacks.
We can expect the three-time premier to be dubbed a larger-than-life character amid his passing, and for good reason.
His public life was marked by notorious ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties, which were attended by young girls including underage escorts, but also had a foothold in football, business and media.
It was only in February last that Berlusconi was acquitted of breaking any law over the sex parties – six years after the trial got underway, and the third in a scandal that made headlines around the world in 2010 when Berlusconi was a sitting PM.
He had been found not guilty of witness tampering in a trial related to an earlier case, where he was eventually acquitted of having paid for sex with an under-age teenager.
The earlier trials took place as Berlusconi still wielded considerable power as premier, raising concern among officials that he had left himself vulnerable to extortion by hosting young women at his villa.
Berlusconi’s defence described the dinner parties, dating from 2010, as elegant soirees; prosecutors said they were sex-fuelled gatherings that women were paid to attend and where witnesses described showgirls stripping provocatively for the then-Italian leader.
Lurid details emerged of his sex parties at his villa near Milan with its private disco, during a hugely embarrassing trial involving a 17-year-old nightclub dancer.
In the most recent trial, Berlusconi faced charges of paying off witnesses to lie in earlier trials, with prosecutors seeking six years in prison along with €10 million in damages.
He was cleared of this and February’s ruling saw another 28 people charged also all found not guilty.
If anything, Donald Trump was America’s response to Berlusconi, a man who towered over Italian public life as a billionaire media mogul and politician.
But in what no doubt helped him appeal to Italians, Berlusconi was involved in the national passion.
His first fortune came about due to work in a booming construction sector and these funds were used to build a vast conglomerate spanning shops, cinemas, publishers, newspapers and cable television, where he broke new ground with commercial programmes filled with scantily clad women.
He bought AC Milan football club and pumped money into the team to help deliver five of AC Milan’s seven European Cup/Champions League triumphs during his 31-year ownership.
Berlusconi was able to wield huge influence through his television and newspaper interest and his sheer wealth, as Italy’s richest person for a decade.
He regularly delivered dressing room and training ground pep talks – including providing subtle tactical advice in one appearance that they needed to simply score some goals. urging players in one appearance.
Upon saving the club from bankruptcy he reportedly said:
Milan? It’s an affair of the heart. It’s expensive, but the most beautiful women also cost a lot.
He sold the club in 2017 after years of lacklustre performances, and in 2018 bought Monza, then in Italy’s third tier.
The club marked his passing today, saying that Berlusconi would be “forever part” of its history.
Forever part of our history, eternally in the hearts and minds of every Rossonero.
— AC Milan (@acmilan) June 12, 2023
Il Presidente della nostra storia. Nel cuore, nella memoria, nell’eternità. pic.twitter.com/cyMyctQGAw
Another recent similarity to the former US president may also lie in the ever-increasing number of court cases both have had to face.
Much of the Italian’s life was embroiled in legal action, and in 2013 Berlusconi received a definitive conviction for tax fraud, which saw him carry out community service in a care home for sufferers of Alzheimer’s and receive a temporary ban from parliament for the action.
Berlusconi was also hit with a one-year sentence for leaking transcription of a police wiretap in a newspaper controlled by his family, in an attempt to damage a left-wing political rival.
He appealed the sentence and ultimately never served time in jail due to his age.
Berlusconi had a similar let-off over his age following a €3 million bribe to get a senator, Sergio De Gregorio, to join his party’s ranks and destablise the sitting government.
Another court ruling saw Berlusconi ordered to pay his second wife Veronica Lario €3 million a month to allow her to keep up her luxurious lifestyle.
The relationship ended when Lario, a former actress, discovered he had an affair with a teenager. She later left him in 2009, accusing him of “cavorting with minors”.
In March 2022, he held a bizarre fake wedding with his girlfriend Marta Fascina, then 32.
Berlusconi staged the symbolic wedding in a “festival of love” where he exchanged rings with the woman 53 years his junior in an unofficial ceremony not recognised in the eyes of the law.
Berlusconi was known for his friendships with the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin — the latter of whom he controversially defended following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
He also backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, joining the US-led coalition.
He shied away from more traditional diplomacy, once likening a German European MP to a Nazi and describing US President Barack Obama as “suntanned”.
During a 2014 appearance opposite the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman, Berlusconi defended himself against an accusation that he called Germany’s leader Angela Merkel “an un-f***able lard-arse” – instead claiming that he jumped out from behind a monument and shouted “cuckoo” at the then chancellor.
Berlusconi emerged as a surprise vegetarian in his latter years, declaring that Italians should “Defend life, choose a vegetarian Easter” in 2017.
He was videoed cuddling lambs on his estate as part of a campaign by the Italian League in Defence of Animals and the Environment sign
With lamb a traditional Easter food in Italy, it arose ire from the country’s meat industry.
An Italian butchers’ lobby group responded with a call for suppliers to boycott the tycoon’s television channels and magazines, accusing him of being more interested in gaining votes than lambs.
Additional reporting by AFP
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say