Silvio Berlusconi dies aged 86
Silvio Berlusconi has died at the age of 86.
The former Italian Prime Minister - who was infamously known for his so-called 'bunga bunga' parties - was admitted to San Raffaele Hospital in Milan with heart problems and shortness of breath amid his battle with leukaemia on 9 June, and it has now been announced he has passed away.
The Forza Italia leader had only been discharged from the same hospital on 19 May after spending 45 days there with pneumonia.
Berlusconi served as prime minister three times, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011, with his latter term seeing him forced to resign amid an acute debt crisis.
He was convicted of tax fraud in 2012 and spent a year doing part-time community service at a residential home in Milan. The politician was banned from running for office but that was lifted in time for the 2018 election, when Forza Italia ran in coalition with the League and Brothers of Italy but fell short of the requirement needed to govern.
The following year, he won a seat in the European parliament and in 2022, he was elected as a senator amid his party returning to power in a coalition with Brothers of Italy.
But the billionaire suffered a string of health problems in recent years, undergoing heart surgery in 2016 and hospitalised with COVID-19 in September 2020, with the disease causing lingering complications. He also overcame prostate cancer.
Away from politics, Berlusconi was infamous for his party lifestyle.
He was accused but later acquitted of paying young women for "silence and lies" surrounding the infamous bashes at his villa, which he always insisted were simply dinners, despite guests claiming they attended wild sex parties with "orgies".
He bought soccer team AC Monza in 2018 and last year promised his players a "bus full of prostitutes" if they beat rivals AC Milan - who he owned between 1986 and 2017 - or Juventus.
Berlusconi was previously married to Carla Dall'Oglio and Veronica Lario, and had a seven-year relationship with Francesca Pascale before finding love with 33-year-old Forza Italia MP Marta Fascina, with whom he had a "symbolic marriage" in March last year.
He is survived by five children.
