Italy’s ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi, 86, dies

The four-time prime minister was a media mogul and political showman whose financial and sexual scandals made him the most polarising figure in modern Italy

Berlusconi, who suffered ill health for years, was admitted to a Milan hospital on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to his leukaemia

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Silvio Berlusconi had suffered ill health for years, from heart surgery in 2016 to a 2020 hospitalisation for coronavirus. Despite being re-elected to the Senate last year, he was rarely seen in public. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 5:47pm, 12 Jun 2023

Brash, ebullient and a self-made billionaire, four-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was a media mogul and political showman whose financial and sexual scandals made him the most polarising figure in modern Italy.

He died on Monday aged 86, sources said.

He was admitted to a Milan hospital on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to his leukaemia.

His admission came just three weeks after he was discharged following a six-week stay at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, during which time doctors revealed he had a rare type of blood cancer.

Berlusconi had suffered ill health for years, from heart surgery in 2016 to a 2020 hospitalisation for coronavirus. Despite being re-elected to the Senate last year, he was rarely seen in public.

With an unassailable self-confidence and a sharp entrepreneurial spirit, Berlusconi created a business empire that at its peak stretched from construction to television, publishing, retailing and top flight soccer.