<\/p>\n
His death has been described in the Italian press as the “end of an era”.\n <\/p>\n
Silvio Berlusconi died on Monday at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, his doctors said in a statement. <\/p>\n
The former Italian prime minister was readmitted last Friday for scheduled medical check-ups related to his chronic leukemia.<\/p>\n
The 86-year-old had recently spent 45 days in the same hospital being treated for a lung infection and chronic leukemia, before being discharged exactly three weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The three-time prime minister was one of Italy’s most successful businessmen and an influential but controversial and divisive politician. <\/p>\n
He was a dominant force in Italian politics for the past 30 years and still led his centre-right party, Forza Italia, despite suffering from various health problems since 2016.<\/p>\n
Last year, his party entered the right-wing coalition currently in government, and Berlusconi returned to parliament as an elected senator after a nine-year hiatus. <\/p>\n
But many now agree that Berlusconi had been progressively marginalized and isolated in the context of Italian politics, and had lost his role as leader of the country’s right-wing coalition.<\/p>\n
Berlusconi’s death is “the end of an ‘era'” for Italy, according to the country’s Repubblica newspaper. <\/p>\n
It is the final line that closes a 30-year chapter in Italian history that has been marked by great cultural changes, political scandals and international gaffes.<\/p>\n
Il Cavaliere (the knight), as he was nicknamed, was born in Milan in 1936 into a middle-class family. <\/p>\n
He began his business career in real estate development before founding Mediaset, Italy’s largest private network, after singing on cruise ships and nightclubs as a youngster. <\/p>\n
Berlusconi rose to the top of Italian politics despite his lack of experience, driven by his success as a businessman.<\/p>\n
He was elected prime minister for the first time in 1994, and then again in 2001 and 2008. In 2011, he was forced to resign due to an acute debt crisis.<\/p>\n
His career was affected by scandals – in one, nicknamed ‘Ruby ter’, he was accused of paying to have sex with a woman under 18 – and allegations of corruption. <\/p>\n
In late 2012 he was convicted of tax fraud, for which he served a one-year sentence doing part-time community service at a residential home in Milan.<\/p>\n