Allies and critics have paid tribute to the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s longest-serving postwar leader and one of its most divisive, who has died aged 86.
The billionaire media tycoon and former AC Milan owner who entered politics at the head of his own Forza Italia in the 1990s as the traditional parties of the right collapsed led three governments between 1994 and 2011 and succeeded in making a comeback in 2017 despite a career tainted by sex scandals, allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction.
He died at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he had spent six weeks this spring undergoing treatment for a lung infection linked to a chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia before being readmitted.
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, whose governing coalition includes Berlusconi’s Forza Italia as a junior member, said on Monday: “Silvio Berlusconi was above all a fighter. He was a man who was never afraid to stand up for his convictions, and it was exactly that courage and determination that made him one of the most influential men in the history of Italy.”
The two had recently disagreed over the war in Ukraine and Berlusconi’s friendship with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who had sent him bottles of vodka for his most recent birthday. On Monday, the Russian embassy in Rome described Berlusconi as a great statesman and visionary, while Putin, in what appeared to be a deeply personal statement, said he was a “dear person, a true friend”.
Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister, described Berlusconi as “a great friend and a great Italian man”. Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, described Berlusconi’s death as “a great, enormous pain”. “He leaves a huge void because he was great. An era is over, an era is closing. I loved him very much. Goodbye Silvio.”
The former prime minister’s funeral is to be held on Wednesday in Milan – a city deeply associated with Berlusconi – when Italy will also mark a national day of mourning. Supporters draped in the flags of Forza Italia and AC Milan, which he owned between 1986 and 2017, gathered on Monday outside the Milan hospital where he died.
Born in Milan in 1936 to a middle-class family, Berlusconi began his business career in property development before going on to found Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster.
In 1994 Forza Italia was founded and Berlusconi became the first prime minister to be elected without previously having held a government office. His second term in office, between 2001 and 2006, was the longest served by any Italian leader since the second world war. He returned to power in 2008 but was forced to resign in 2011 amid an acute debt crisis and facing allegations he had hosted “bunga bunga” sex parties with underage girls, something he denied.
He was acquitted on appeal on all charges related to the parties, but was convicted of tax fraud in late 2012, for which he served his year-long sentence doing part-time community service at a residential home in Milan. His ban on running for office was lifted in time for the general elections in 2018, when Forza Italia ran in coalition with the League and Brothers of Italy but the parties fell short of the 40% required to govern.
In 2019, Berlusconi won a seat in the European parliament, and in general elections in October 2022 his party returned to power in a coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy. Berlusconi was also elected as a senator.
Often criticised for his arrogance, sometimes obscene language, chauvinism and blurring the lines between business and politics, his rivals, too, united in paying tribute. Italy’s former prime minister Matteo Renzi described Berlusconi as a history-maker. “Many loved him, many hated him; today everyone must recognise that his impact on political life but also on economic, sporting and television life was unprecedented.”
Karima El Mahroug, an Italian-Moroccan woman and former dancer, known as Ruby, who attended Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” parties wrote “Farewell, President” over an image of a broken heart after the death of the media mogul.
One of the first to react was the former European Commission president Romano Prodi, perhaps Berlusconi’s bitterest political foe.
“We represented different and opposing worlds, but our rivalry never turned into sentiments of animosity on a personal level, and the debate remained within the sphere of mutual respect,” Prodi said.
The secretary of the centre-left Democratic party, Elly Schlein, expressed her party’s “deepest condolences”.
“Everything has divided us and divides us from his political vision, but the human respect to a person who was a protagonist of our country’s history remains,” she said. “Deepest condolences from the Democratic party.’’
Pope Francis sent a telegram of condolences to Berlusconi’s family voicing “heartfelt participation in the mourning for the loss of a protagonist of Italian political life, who held public responsibilities with energetic temperament.”
Il Cavaliere (the knight) – an honour that became his nickname – Berlusconi was often considered the “kingmaker” in Italian politics. In 2016, he had surgery to replace a faulty aortic valve, and was admitted to hospital with Covid in September 2020. He had lingering complications related to the virus, an experience he described as “the worst of my life”.
He married twice, and was in a relationship with Francesca Pascale, 37, for seven years before a relationship with 33-year-old Marta Fascina, an MP with Forza Italia with whom he had a “symbolic marriage” in March 2022. He is survived by five children.
The world of sport also paid tribute. “I have lost my brilliant friend,” said the former football coach Arrigo Sacchi, whose Milan team won the Champions League in consecutive years.
Franco Baresi, a former Milan footballer, said: “I feel more alone now. He was like a father to me, a unique president who was affectionate to everyone.”
Berlusconi left AC Milan ownership in 2017 and bought the Monza football club, taking it from Italy’s second division to the top flight. A statement from Monza said: “Forever with us. A void that can never be filled. Thanks for everything, president.”
