Italy’s Longest-serving Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, Dies At 86

Italy’s longest-serving Prime Minister and Media Mogul, Silvio Berlusconi has died at the age of 86.

Berlusconi, who served as Italy’s Prime Minister from 1994 to 2011, though not consecutively, died on Monday at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, Italy.

Reacting to his death, Italy’s current Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni said Berlusconi remains “one of the most influential men in the history of Italy.”

“With him, Italy learned that it never had to have limits imposed on it. It learned that it never had to give up. With him we fought, won, lost many battles. And also for him we will achieve the goals that we set together. Goodbye Silvio,” Meloni added.

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Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said Berlusconi’s death has left a “huge void,” adding that “An era is over.”

Mr Berlusconi, who owned Serie A football club AC Milan from 1986 to 2017, was Italy’s prime Minister four times. He served as Prime Minister between 1994 and 1995, 2001 and 2006 then 2008 to 2011.

He was not free of controversies and scandals.

He has been known as a Prime Minister that was a hardline critic of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

In his lifetime, he was in and out of court rooms for charges ranging from sex scandals to bribing fellow politicians and paying hush money.

Though, the billionaire and Media mogul since 2020 has been in and out of hospital after he contracted COVID-19 and has been suffering from chronic myelomonocyte leukemia and was treated for lung cancer in April, the cause of his death has not yet been revealed.

A national day of mourning has been declared by the Italian government for Wednesday. The day Mr Berlusconi will be buried.