Silvio Berlusconi dead: Italy’s former PM dies aged 86 as cause of death remains unknown

Italy‘s controversial former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – famed for his notorious ‘Bunga Bunga’ sex parties – has died aged 86 after being admitted to hospital with leukaemia last week.

The billionaire businessman created Italy’s largest media company before transforming the country’s political landscape – while fending off multiple legal and sex scandals. His spokesman confirmed his death this morning.

The tycoon was admitted to San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to his leukaemia. Berlusconi had been suffering from leukaemia ‘for some time’ and had recently developed a lung infection.

Soon after the news broke that he had died, it was announced that he will have a state funeral in Milan’s cathedral, while Italy declared Wednesday to be a national day of mourning.

‘Silvio Berlusconi’s state funeral will take place on Wednesday June 14 in the Milan Duomo,’ the diocese in the northern Italian city said on its website. 

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, and although he himself did not have a role in government, his death is likely to destabilise Italian politics in the coming months. 

His business empire also faces an uncertain future. He never publicly indicated who would take full charge of his MFE company following his death, even though his eldest daughter Marina is expected to play a prominent role. 

At least two of his daughters – Barbara and Eleonora – were photographed outside the hospital on Monday.

Two members of the Italian government mourned his passing, with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini calling him in a statement ‘a great man and a great Italian’.

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto wrote on Twitter that Berlusconi’s death amounted to the end of an era. ‘I loved him very much. Farewell Silvio,’ Crosetto said.

AC Milan, the football club which won a host of domestic and European titles under Berlusconi’s ownership, called him ‘unforgettable’ in a tribute after his death on Monday.

‘Thank you, Mr President. Always with us,’ the club said in a statement, adding it was ‘grieving the passing of the unforgettable Silvio Berlusconi’.

‘Tomorrow, we will dream of new ambitions, create new challenges, and seek new victories which will represent the good, the strong, and the true that lies inside us, in all of us who shared this adventure of binding our lives to a dream called Milan,’ the statement continued.

Carlo Ancelotti, who won two Champions League titles as a player for AC Milan in 1989 and 1990 before then coaching the club to two more European successes in 2003 and 2007, led the tributes to the former club president.

‘Today’s sadness doesn’t erase the happy moments spent together,’ Ancelotti, the current Real Madrid manager, tweeted along with a photo of him standing beside Berlusconi.

‘There remains infinite gratitude to the president, but above all to an ironic, loyal, intelligent, sincere man, fundamental in my adventure as a football player first, and then as a coach. Thanks President.’

As a sign of his stature in Italy, a plan for his coffin to lie in state at the headquarters of his TV empire was on Monday scrapped over public order fears.

It was not immediately clear if this was due to crowd control or some form of protest from political opponents and there was no official comment from other side other than to come it was for public order.

Plans for Berlusconi to lie in state at the Senate in Rome or Milan city hall were also sidelined and instead his funeral will take place on Wednesday afternoon in Milan’s iconic Duomo cathedral.

The state funeral service will be led by the Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini and Berlusconi will then buried in a specially constructed masoleum at his villa.

The tomb – built in entirely from marble and opened in 1990 – was designed by architect Pietro Cascella and is called Volta Celeste (Celestial Vault). 

It contains the remains of his parents and also 37 other spaces for other family members and close friends. 

Berlusconi was prime minister for three spells, running from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. 

His health markedly deteriorated in recent years, with open-heart surgery in 2016 and numerous hospital admissions since contracting Covid-19 three years ago.

The former PM – who was in a relationship with 33-year-old Forza Italia MP Marta Fascina – was discharged from hospital last month after treatment for a lung infection linked to a Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CML). 

He was admitted to intensive care in April in the cardiac unit of the San Raffaele hospital after suffering from breathing problems. 

While there, Berlusconi, the leader of the Right-wing Forza Italia party, was diagnosed with a lung infection and CML – a rare blood cancer characterised by high numbers of white blood cells.

He was discharged on May 19 after 45 days in hospital. 

Berlusconi had previously overcome prostate cancer, which he described as ‘a nightmare lasting months’.

But it was his battle with Covid in 2020 which he described as the ‘most dangerous challenge’ of his life. 

The three-time prime minister of Italy, who was embroiled in several scandals – most notably around his ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties – was admitted to hospital with a minor heart problem after fainting in 2006, and underwent heart surgery in a US hospital in January 2007.

The former AC Milan owner, who also had major heart surgery in 2016 to replace an aortic valve, has had a pacemaker for several years.

He was hospitalised again for a reported urinary tract infection in January 2022.  

Despite being diagnosed with leukaemia, he was active in politics to the end as a senator and partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government.

The larger-than-life character, who once compared himself to Jesus, was Italy’s longest serving post-war premier but was also plagued by scandal. 

Berlusconi also wielded huge influence through his television and newspaper interests – he effectively invented commercial TV in Italy – his ownership of AC Milan football club, and his sheer wealth, as Italy’s richest person for a decade.

Long before Donald Trump parlayed his business success into a White House bid, Berlusconi charmed millions of Italians by presenting himself as a self-made man who enjoyed life and spoke his mind, even to the extent of insulting fellow leaders.

To his critics, however, the right-winger was a tax-evading playboy who used his vast media empire to further his political career, and then exploited his power to protect his business interests.

He spent much of his life embroiled in legal action, and the cases around his notorious ‘Bunga Bunga’ sex parties, attended by young girls including underage escorts, were only wrapped up in February 2023.

Despite remaining president of his Forza Italia party, a junior partner in Meloni’s coalition, he had largely retired from public view in recent months.

His friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin put him at odds with Ms Meloni, a staunch supporter of Ukraine. 

On his 86th birthday, while the war raged, Putin sent Berlusconi best wishes and vodka, and the Italian boasted he returned the favour by sending back Italian wine.

He suffered increasing health problems – although he maintained his pride in his appearance, always smartly dressed, his slicked-back hair never showing the slightest trace of grey.

But as Berlusconi aged, some derided his perpetual tan, hair transplants and live-in girlfriends who were decades younger. For many years, however, Berlusconi seemed untouchable despite the personal scandals.

Berlusconi burst on to the political scene in the early 1990s, after building up a media and real estate business, where he was viewed as a breath of fresh air after a period of corruption and scandal.

Pitching himself as a modern Italian success story, and backed by his TV stations and newspapers, he secured his first election victory in 1994 with his new movement, Forza Italia (Go Italy!), named after a football chant.

He lasted as prime minister for only nine months, but bounced back with another election win in 2001 after a populist campaign promising jobs and economic growth, signing a ‘Contract with Italians’ live on television.

He served until 2006, and returned again as prime minister between 2008 and 2011, making him the longest-serving premier in Italy’s post-war history.

He was forced to quit as debt-laden Italy – the eurozone’s third largest economy – came under intense pressure during the financial crisis.

The tenure of the man dubbed ‘Il Cavaliere’ (The Knight) divided Italians, as much as over his policies – including his controversial decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq – as his entire approach to life.

To admirers, the three-time premier was a capable and charismatic statesman who sought to elevate Italy on the world stage.

To critics, he was a populist who threatened to undermine democracy by wielding political power as a tool to enrich himself and his businesses.

Throughout his time in office, prosecutors snapped at his heels, even as his supporters in parliament passed laws to shield him and his allies.

Criminal cases were launched but ended in dismissals when statutes of limitations ran out in Italy’s slow-moving justice system, or he was victorious on appeal.

Investigations targeted the tycoon’s steamy so-called ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties involving young women and minors, or his businesses, which included the football team AC Milan, the country’s three biggest private TV networks, magazines and a daily newspaper, and advertising and film companies.

Only one probe led to a conviction – a tax fraud case stemming from a sale of movie rights in his business empire.

The conviction was upheld in 2013 by Italy’s top criminal court, but he was spared prison because of his age, 76, and was ordered to do community service by assisting Alzheimer’s patients.

He still was stripped of his senate seat and banned from running or holding public office for six years, under anti-corruption laws.

He suffered personal humiliations as well. 

Berlusconi lost his standing as Italy’s richest man, although his sprawling media holdings and luxury property still left him a billionaire several times over.

In 2013, guests at one of his parties included an under-age Moroccan dancer whom prosecutors alleged had sex with Berlusconi in exchange for cash and jewellery.

After a trial spiced by lurid details, a Milan court initially convicted Berlusconi of paying for sex with a minor and using his office to try to cover it up. Both denied having sex with each other, and he was eventually acquitted.

The Catholic Church, at times sympathetic to his conservative politics, was scandalised by his antics, and his wife of nearly 20 years divorced him. But  Berlusconi was unapologetic, declaring: ‘I’m no saint.’

Berlusconi insisted that voters were impressed by his brashness.

‘The majority of Italians in their hearts would like to be like me and see themselves in me and in how I behave,’ he said in 2009, during his third and final stint as premier.

He boasted of his libido and entertained friends and world leaders at his villas. At one party, newspapers reported the women were dressed as ‘little Santas’. At another, photos showed topless women and a naked man lounging poolside.

An unrepentant Berlusconi said in 2010: ‘I love life! I love women!’

Despite the multiple court cases – he claimed in 2021 he had gone through 86 trials – he never spent any time behind bars and successfully appealed convictions for fraud and corruption early in his political career.

He was also long suspected of links to the mafia, but strongly denied it.