Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi (/ˌbɛərlʊˈskoʊni/ BAIR-luu-SKOH-nee; Italian: [ˈsilvjo berluˈskoːni] ⓘ; 29 September 1936 – 12 June 2023) was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011.[2] He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1994 to 2013; a member of the Senate of the Republic from 2022 until his death in 2023, and previously from March to November 2013; and a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022, and previously from 1999 to 2001.[3] With a net worth of US$6.8 billion as of June 2023, Berlusconi was the third-wealthiest person in Italy at the time of his death.[4]
"Berlusconi" redirects here. For other uses, see Berlusconi (disambiguation).
Silvio Berlusconi
Romano Prodi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
North-West Italy
- Molise (2008–2013)
- Campania 1 (2006–2008)
- Lombardy 1 (1996–2006)
- Lazio 1 (1994–1996)
29 September 1936
Milan, Kingdom of Italy
12 June 2023 (aged 86)
Milan, Italy
- Forza Italia (1994–2009)
- The People of Freedom (2009–2013)
- Forza Italia (from 2013)
- Pole of Freedoms (1994–1995)
- Pole for Freedoms (1996–2000)
- House of Freedoms (2000–2008)
- Centre-right coalition (1994–2013; from 2017)
- Francesca Pascale (2013–2020)[1]
5, including Marina, Pier Silvio and Barbara
Paolo Berlusconi (brother)
Berlusconi rose into the financial elite of Italy in the late 1960s. He was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club AC Milan from 1986 to 2017. He was nicknamed Il Cavaliere (The Knight) for his Order of Merit for Labour; he voluntarily resigned from this order in March 2014.[5] In 2018, Forbes ranked him as the 190th richest man in the world, with a net worth of US$8 billion.[6][7] In 2009, Forbes ranked him 12th in the list of the World's Most Powerful People due to his domination of Italian politics throughout more than fifteen years at the head of the centre-right coalition.[8]
Berlusconi was prime minister for nine years in total, making him the longest serving post-war prime minister of Italy, and the third longest-serving since Italian unification, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti. He was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from 1994 to 2009, and its successor party The People of Freedom from 2009 to 2013. He led the revived Forza Italia from 2013 to 2023.[9] Berlusconi was the senior G8 leader from 2009 until 2011, and he held the record for hosting G8 summits (having hosted three summits in Italy). After serving nearly 19 years as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the country's lower house, he became a member of the Senate following the 2013 Italian general election.
On 1 August 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the Supreme Court of Cassation. His four-year prison sentence was confirmed, and he was banned from holding public office for two years. Aged 76, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, and instead served his sentence by doing unpaid community service.[10] Three years of his sentence was automatically pardoned under Italian law; because he had been sentenced to gross imprisonment for more than two years, he was banned from holding legislative office for six years and expelled from the Senate.[11][12] Berlusconi pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban.[10][13] After his ban ended, Berlusconi ran for and was elected as an MEP at the 2019 European Parliament election.[3] He returned to the Senate after winning a seat in the 2022 Italian general election,[14] and died the following year from complications of chronic leukaemia, and was given a state funeral.[15]
Berlusconi was known for his populist political style and brash personality. In his long tenure, he was often accused of being an authoritarian leader and a strongman.[16][17][18] At the height of his power, Berlusconi was the richest person in Italy, owned three of the main TV channels of the country, and indirectly controlled RAI through his own government. He was the owner of Italy's biggest publishing company, several newspapers and magazines, and one of the main football clubs in Europe.[19] At the time of his death, The Guardian wrote that Berlusconi "gathered himself more power than was ever wielded by one individual in a Western democracy."[20] Berlusconi remained a controversial figure who divided public opinion and political analysts. Supporters emphasised his leadership skills and charismatic power, his fiscal policy based on tax reduction, and his ability to maintain strong and close foreign relations with both the United States and Russia.[21][22][23] In general, critics address his performance as a politician and the ethics of his government practices in relation to his business holdings. Issues with the former include accusations of having mismanaged the state budget and of increasing the Italian government debt. The second criticism concerns his vigorous pursuit of his personal interests while in office, including benefitting from his own companies' growth due to policies promoted by his governments, having vast conflicts of interest due to ownership of a media empire, with which he restricted freedom of information, and being blackmailed as a leader because of his turbulent private life.[24][25][26]
Health
On 13 December 2009, Berlusconi was hit in the face with a statuette of Milan Cathedral after a rally in Milan's Piazza del Duomo. The assailant was subsequently detained and identified as Massimo Tartaglia, a 42-year-old surveyor with a history of mental illness but no criminal record.[477][478][479] Berlusconi suffered facial injuries, a broken nose and two broken teeth; he was subsequently hospitalised.[480] Berlusconi was discharged from the hospital on 17 December 2009.[481]
On 7 June 2016, after the campaign for the 2016 Italian local elections, Berlusconi was hospitalised to the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan because of heart problems.[482] After two days, on 9 June, his personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo announced that the stroke could have killed him, and that he had to have a heart surgery to replace a defective aortic valve.[483]
On 2 September 2020, amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Berlusconi tested positive for COVID-19. He had had contact with businessman Flavio Briatore, who had been hospitalised after contracting the virus,[484] and with his daughter Barbara and his son Luigi, who had also tested positive.[485] The following day, Berlusconi announced he was well and continuing to work; on the next day, 3 September, he was admitted to the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan with bilateral pneumonia.[486][485][487] Alberto Zangrillo, head of intensive care at San Raffaele Hospital, said on 11 September 2020 that Berlusconi was admitted with a very high viral load, but that he was improving and his response to the disease had been "optimal".[488][489] On 14 September, he was discharged. Berlusconi described COVID-19 as "the most dangerous and frightening experience" of his life.[490][491] In May 2021, he was hospitalised due to COVID-19 long-term consequences.[492]
In January 2022 Berlusconi was hospitalised for eight days to treat a severe urinary infection with strong antibiotic therapy. Due to hospitalisation, he was unable to participate in the presidential elections.[493]
On 27 March 2023, Berlusconi was admitted to San Raffaele Hospital for three days after suffering pains.[494]
In April 2023, Berlusconi was hospitalised again at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan,[495] and was treated in intensive care after suffering breathing problems,[496][497] due to severe pneumonia caused by a form of leukaemia.[498] On 6 April, it was reported that Berlusconi had started chemotherapy.[499] On 16 April, Berlusconi was transferred to a regular ward.[500] In May 2023, a video of Berlusconi was played at the Forza Italia party reassuring his supporters at the party's convention in Milan. In the video, Berlusconi stated that he was ready to return to work after being hospitalised for a month, and that he had never stopped working even while in hospital.[501] He was discharged from the hospital on 19 May, proclaiming "the nightmare" was over.[502]
Austria: Grand Decoration in Gold with Sash of the (2002)[539]
Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
: Knight Grand Cross of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George[547]
