Silvio Berlusconi, who died aged 86 on Monday, was one of Italy’s and Europe’s most successful, richest and corrupt politicians. Berlusconi dated famous Italian actresses, bought some of the world’s greatest footballers during his tenure as owner of AC Milan and mingled with the Italian mafia in order to exercise his influence in Italian media and real estate.
Nicknamed “Il Cavaliere” (the Cavalier), Berlusconi owned several businesses and was a major stakeholder in every sector of the Italian economy. But he always presented himself as a man of the people who could outwit the Italian bureaucracy with the charm of a movie star.
In the late 2010s, Berlusconi’s name was synonymous with corruption. His political career which spanned over several decades halted as allegations of corruption were levelled against him. However, Berlusconi was a comeback king.
He was Italy’s Prime Minister four times and in 2022, despite legal hurdles emanating from the corruption allegations, he was elected to Italy’s Senate.
Berlusconi was born in 1936, the eldest of three children of a bank clerk. He graduated from Milan with a law degree and then went on to sell vacuum cleaners and even sang on cruise ships. A report by the BBC and the the Telegraph revealed that he also earned money by selling and writing assignments for fellow students.
In the 70s and 80s, Berlusconi started to show that he was on his way towards becoming a behemoth. He bought Mediaset, Italy’s largest media empire and owner of the country’s biggest private stations, and Mondadori, Italy’s largest publishing house.
In 1986, arguably the most distinguished resident of Milan, saved AC Milan football club - the city’s crown jewel - from bankruptcy by buying it. He sold AC Milan in 2017, after overseeing the club attain European and global success but later on purchased Monza.
Throughout his political career Berlusconi has been accused of embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting, and attempting to bribe a judge but he managed to make himself look like a victim.
His party, named Forza Italia, borrowed from a football chant meaning “Let’s go, Italy!”, also shows that despite being among the world’s, Italy’s and Europe’s richest, he was successful in portraying himself as an ‘everyman’.
“I don’t need to go into the office for power. I have houses all over the world, stupendous boats, beautiful aeroplanes, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family. I am making a sacrifice,” Berlusconi said when he was elected for the first time as Italy’s Prime Minister in 1994, despite rumours that he became the prime minister to influence the investigations launched into his businesses.
He went on to become Italy’s Prime Minister in 2001, 2008 and finally in 2011. But in 2012, he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for tax fraud and barred from public office but since he was septuagenarian by the time of the declaration of the verdict, he was handed community service instead of jail sentence.
Berlusconi was flamboyant in nature. He wore his hair slicked back and underwent plastic surgery to make himself seem younger. His infamous ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties, where young, nude women were brought to mingle with him and his highly-placed friends, also landed him in trouble as he was accused of paying an underage prostitute for sex and later convicted.
He even called the police to secure the release of one 17-year-old Karima “Ruby" El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby Heart-Stealer, who was being held for theft. It was later found that Silvio paid her for sex and said he wanted to secure her release by saying that she was the niece or granddaughter of the president of Egypt, the BBC said in a report.
The report also says his wife, famous Italian actress Veronica Lairo, was frustrated with her husband’s behaviour around young women.
Despite all these scandals, in 2018, the Italian courts allowed him once more to run for public office and in 2019 he successfully ran for the European Parliament.
In 2022, he returned once more to Italian politics, with his party Forza Italia being part of the coalition.
Berlusconi’s net worth in 2020 was reported to be worth nearly £5 billion. He is survived by his five children - Marina, Barbara, Pier Silvio, Eleonora and Luigi. He married twice and his last partner was Marta Fascina, a member of the Chamber of Deputies 53 years younger than him, with whom he said he had a symbolic marriage.