Italy’s long-time head of government Silvio Berlusconi is in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Milan due to heart problems. As the AFP news agency learned on Wednesday from those close to Berlusconi, the 86-year-old is in the cardiac surgery ward at San Raffaele Hospital in the northern Italian city. In the recent past, Berlusconi, one of the most important figures in European politics in recent decades, has struggled with health problems on several occasions.
According to the Italian news agency Ansa, Berlusconi was hospitalized on Wednesday morning and his condition is “currently stable”. The longtime head of government has recently been hospitalized repeatedly, most recently in the past week – according to official information for check-ups.
In April 2021 he spent more than three weeks in the hospital due to the consequences of a Covid 19 infection he suffered in 2020. The multi-billionaire had open-heart surgery in 2016 and in 2019 because of an intestinal obstruction.
The right-wing conservative Forza Italia party, founded and led by Berlusconi, has been part of the governing coalition led by ultra-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni since October. Berlusconi himself was elected to the Senate in the parliamentary elections in September.
Berlusconi has dominated public life in Italy for decades in a variety of roles – not just as a politician, but also as a media mogul and longtime owner of football club AC Milan. He was prime minister three times between 1994 and 2011.
However, the importance of his party, Forza Italia, has decreased significantly compared to the 1990s and 2000s: the right-wing conservatives, once the country’s strongest party, are now only in the single digits in elections and polls.
Berlusconi has divided Italy into supporters and opponents for decades. For millions of Italians, since his ascent as a building contractor in the 1970s, he has been a symbolic figure for the last real boom in the Italian economy: Berlusconi is considered the founder of nationwide private television in Italy group several newspapers as well as the important publishing house Mondadori.
After taking over AC Milan in 1986, Berlusconi was also a powerful decision-maker in Italian football, which has considerable social and political importance in the country.
On the other hand, Berlusconi’s political career has been paved with scandals since his meticulously prepared and staged debut in 1994: he had to answer in court for several alleged economic and corruption offenses and his role in the notorious bunga bunga sex parties.
Recently, Berlusconi, who has been a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin for years, attracted international attention several times with pro-Russian statements about the Ukraine war – and thus embarrassed Meloni, who appeared as a determined supporter of Kiev.
In August 2013, Berlusconi was convicted for the first time: At that time, the Court of Cassation confirmed his four-year prison sentence for tax fraud, but three years were lifted by an amnesty. However, Berlusconi lost the honorary title “Cavaliere del Lavoro” that the Italian President had bestowed on him in 1977. Berlusconi did not serve his remaining sentence in prison – but between 2014 and 2015 with charitable work in a retirement home.
Berlusconi has five children from two marriages and has become a grandfather several times. Since 2020 he has been in a relationship with 53-year-old Marta Fascina, who used to be a model and member of parliament for Forza Italia.
