In early April, Berlusconi was treated for a lung infection, which was reportedly linked to a previously undisclosed case of chronic leukemia.
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, who was hospitalized in Milan's San Raffaele hospital for scheduled follow-up tests for a blood condition last week, has died aged 86, an Italian newspaper reported on Monday.
Health Problems
Berlusconi was rushed to hospital on Friday afternoon, just three weeks after leaving the clinic. The re-hospitalization of the veteran of Italian politics understandably alarmed many supporters and political allies of the ex-prime minister, according to media reports.
However, the ex-PM’s attending physicians said that the new hospitalization was due to the need to "carry out planned control studies in connection with a known hematological pathology."
The bulletin, which was released on Friday by the former prime minister's personal physician Alberto Zangrillo and hematologist Fabio Ciceri, reportedly noted that their patient's condition was stable.
This was preceded by Berlusconi being admitted to the San Raffaele hospital on April 5. Italian media reported at the time that he was being hospitalized due to breathing problems, but later on, the ex-PM's attending physicians reported for the first time that he was suffering from chronic leukemia. He received chemotherapy at the clinic and was discharged on May 19.
Quick Look at Biography
Berlusconi was born on September 29, 1936 in Milan, Italy. After graduating from the University of Milan with a degree in law in 1961, he decided to kick off a business career in construction. As a real-estate developer, he obtained a massive fortune by the 1970s.
The future media mogul created the cable television firm Telemilano in 1974 and six years later, he established Canale 5, Italy’s first commercial television network.
By the late 1980s, Berlusconi-created TV stations dominated Italian airwaves. Separately, he diversified his business holdings as he acquired department stores, movie theatres, publishing houses, and the AC Milan football team. He strengthened his empire under the auspices of the Fininvest holding company, a huge conglomerate controlling more than 150 businesses.
Political Career, Sex Scandals
The billionaire media tycoon first came to office in 1994 and was at the helm of four of the country’s governments between then and 2011.
Berlusconi led the center-right Forza Italia party which went into coalition under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after elections in September 2022, when he was elected to the Senate, Italy's upper house.
The media mogul's political career saw him being convicted of tax fraud in late 2012, for which he served a year-long sentence doing part-time community service at a residential home in Milan. His ban on running for office was scrapped in time for the Italian general elections in 2018, when Forza Italia ran in coalition with the League and Brothers of Italy. At the end of the day, Forza Italia fell short of the 40% required to become the ruling party.
Apart from tax scheme-related scandals, Berlusconi was involved in trials over his sexual escapades. He was once convicted, but later cleared of charges of having sex with an underage nightclub dancer during one of his so-called “bunga bunga” parties. Berlusconi was married twice and he is survived by his five children.
Beppe Severgnini, a columnist and author of a book on Berlusconi, described the politician as a “protopopulist” whose success had paved the way for leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Britain’s Boris Johnson and former US President Donald Trump.
“Berlusconi was actually less arrogant and less obnoxious than most but nonetheless he started it all,” Severgnini said.
“The legacy of Berlusconi was he could read the weaknesses and temptations of a nation. That’s what he really is a master of. He absolved us of all our sins, we were acquitted even before we committed those sins, and he was not a leader, he was a follower in a way, he followed the ‘pancia’ – the guts of Italy.”
A state funeral will be held Wednesday, according to the state-owned public broadcaster RAI, citing the president of the Senate.
Property developer to political power
Born in Milan in 1936, Berlusconi was first to make his name as a business tycoon, at one point becoming the richest man in Italy.
He gave notice early of his showman side by working as a lounge-room crooner aboard a cruise ship to help attend university, where he studied law.
Various low-level commercial enterprises followed before the fledgling entrepreneur enjoyed his first real success in property development in the late 1960s when he was involved in a project to build Milano Two – nearly 4,000 flats – outside Milan.
After amassing a fortune from his property portfolio in the 1970s, he diversified his interests by setting up a TV cable company, Telemilano, and buying two other cable channels in an effort to break the national TV monopoly in Italy. In 1978, these channels were incorporated into his newly formed Fininvest group, which included department stores, insurance companies and even AC Milan – one of the world’s biggest football clubs, which he owned for 31 years.
Berlusconi turned his attention to politics in 1993 when he formed the center-right Forza Italia Party, named for “Forza, Italia!” (Go, Italy!), a chant heard at Italian national soccer team games.
The following year, in a snap election, he became prime minister. However, a dispute with his right-wing coalition partners from the Northern League Party, as well as an indictment for alleged tax fraud, ended Berlusconi’s tenure in the job after barely seven months. He was acquitted on appeal in 2000 after the statute of limitations had expired.
After defeat in the 1996 election to his political nemesis, Romano Prodi, he became embroiled in other financial scandals, including a charge of bribing tax inspectors. He denied any wrongdoing and was cleared again on appeal in 2000.
His fortunes turned again in 2001 when he was sworn in as prime minister for a second time. But Prodi – a former European Commission president – ended Berlusconi’s more successful reign with his center-left Union coalition victory in 2006. At that time, the tycoon had presided over the longest-serving post-war Italian government.
Despite having a pacemaker implanted to regulate his heartbeat after he collapsed during a political rally, he refused to slow down. Sporting a hair transplant, cosmetic surgery and a tan, Berlusconi returned to power for a third time in 2008 under the banner of the newly created People of Freedom party, which he left in 2013 when he created his Forza Italia party.
Ebbing authority The next year proved to be one of extremes for the veteran politician. He was praised for his handling of the devastating earthquake that struck the Italian town of L’Aquila in April 2009, and survived criticism after urging survivors to see their plight like “a weekend of camping.”
But the following month, Berlusconi’s second wife, Veronica Lario, filed for divorce – alleging her then 73-year-old husband had an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old aspiring model whose birthday party he had attended. Berlusconi said she was the daughter of a friend and that he had done nothing wrong.
In December that year, a man with a history of mental illness hit Berlusconi in the face with a replica of Milan’s cathedral at a campaign rally, breaking several of his teeth and fracturing his nose. Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the irrepressible Berlusconi continued to shake hands with supporters for “a couple of minutes” after being hit.
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