Italy is saying goodbye to Berlusconi, the magnate who changed the way politics is conducted

Italy says goodbye to three-time Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and with him to time in the history of the Transalpine country. For better or for worse. hated and admired at the same timethe magnate was the forerunner of a way of conducting politics during the four decades in which he was the undisputed protagonist of Italian public and business life.

After he died this Monday at the age of 86 in a Milan hospital due to leukemia, which – in addition to heart problems – he suffered from, he will be fired from state funeral on Wednesday, a day of national mourning, in the cathedral in Milan, his hometown and where he forged all his achievements. Until that day, his remains will remain at his Arcore residence where only his family and friends will watch over them.

According to Gian Arturo Ferrari, writer and former director of the publishing giant Mondadori, which the former prime minister bought in 1991, former Cavaliere (a a title he lost in 2014 after he was convicted of tax fraud), he had his own special vision of the world: they were at the top founders, creators of companies, engines of society; they followed him businessmen, willing to risk their wealth and all their energy to maintain inherited or acquired businesses; the professionals of all kinds (actors, footballers, artists, lawyers, accountants…), with true mastery of their craft; in the end, managers, incapable of risk and creation, but marked by an excessive thirst for power.

Berlusconi saw himself as the founder, the builder of the empire. And actually it was. Born on September 29, 1936, as a young man he worked as a so-called cruise ship entertainer (he was a humble singer). But he soon discovered his true calling: business. He started in the construction sector in prosperous Italy in the sixties. His passion for bricks culminated in the construction, between the 1970s and the early 1990s, of Milan 2 and Milan 3, small “new towns” with parks, pedestrian and bicycle paths for a bourgeoisie tired of the pollution and traffic of that wealthy city in northern Italy .

But his true passion was plays, he adored puppets from childhood and dreamed of being a conductor. In 1978, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court that considered the existence of local television stations legitimate, it bought TeleMilano, which became Canale 5 in 1980. It was later joined by Italia 1 and Rete 4: what was a small regional television became a big one national chain Mediaset.

Berlusconi revolutionized the small Italian screen, not always for the better. He counter-programmed the rigor and pedagogy of the public channel (RAI) with entertainment programs. Despite the criticism of intellectuals and part of the public due to the bad taste and objectification of women, Berlusconi-style television was astonishing success. One of his strengths was that he seemed to know perfectly the tastes of millions of Italians, from the housewife in Milan to the worker in Naples.

It was also useful for him that he became president in 1986 milan cluba team in decline that soon became a football powerhouse again, winning six League titles, three Champions Leagues, as many European Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and four League Super Cups in just over twelve years.

In the early 90s, he was one of the men the most reputable and the most popular From Italy. He knew how to talk, he had charisma, he was a winner. Above all, he was very rich, as the owner of an empire that went from construction to advertising, from television to print, from sports to books.

When the court process of the Milanese prosecutors, known as Clean Hands, revealed that Italian politics was riddled with corruption and the two main parties (the Christian Democrats and the Socialist Party) entered into a crisis that culminated in their disappearance, Berlusconi was worried, as were other big Italian businessmen: there was a good probability that, given the situation, the Democratic Party of the Left, the successor Communist parties will take over power.

So he decided to “jump into the field”. Created a game from scratch: Forza Italia, liberal, pro-European and deeply anti-communist orientation. He allied himself with right-wing forces: Northern Leaguewho dreamed of the independence of Padania, i National Uniona very strong post-fascist party in the south. In March 1994, Berlusconi won the general election. and his opponents reproached him that he owed his victory to his media arsenal. However, his first government was short-lived: Berlusconi resigned in December.

But the billionaire did not give up, and in 2001 he returned to power with his usual right-wing allies. He had a solid majority in parliament and many on the left feared that Italy was on the brink of a populist dictatorshipsince no man was concentrated so much power in his hands since Mussolini. In 2002, with the so-called Bulgarian decree, Berlusconi expelled two journalists and a comedian from public television who had harshly criticized him. It was a scandal, but many voters still supported him because they were convinced that he, a successful businessman, managed to revive the Italian economy.

It wasn’t like that. The promised miracle never materialized.. In fact, between 2002 and 2005, the Italian economy grew anemic: +0.3%, +0.1%, +1.4% and +0.8%. In 2006, Berlusconi returned to the opposition, but due to internal conflicts in the fragile center-left coalition, he returned to power two years later. But by now his political era was already in its twilight: the new center-right government was weak and fell in 2011. due to scandals and a devastating financial crisis which brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy.

New leaders of the populist extreme right soon appeared: Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni (who was the minister of youth in the previous government), who remembered him on Monday on their social networks, defining him as a “great Italian”. Orros, like former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, admitted that Berlusconi “wrote history”, regardless of the feelings he generated – “many loved him, many hated him” -.

The first to mourn his death was a Hungarian Viktor Orban. Soon after Vladimir Putin he remembered a “true patriot” and a “true friend”. They were less attached in Brussels and Washington.