Berlusconi: Italy says farewell with controversial state funeral

Italy prepares to say farewell to Silvio Berlusconi with state funeral that has split the country – with many furious at such an honour for the man most famous for Bunga Bunga sex orgies

• Wednesday is also a national day of mourning in Italy after Berlusconi’s death on Monday, aged 86. Italians are divided over whether he warrants all the fuss
• The controversial figure was tarnished by several scandals during his career

Italy is preparing to say farewell to Silvio Berlusconi today with a controversial state funeral that has divided the country after his death on Monday aged 86.

Wednesday, which is also a national day of mourning, will see the funeral hosted in Milan’s vast and grand Gothic-era Duomo cathedral.

Berlusconi’s legacy – positive or negative – was being hotly debated among Italians in the run up to the event, with many furious at such an honour being bestowed upon the man tarnished by scandals – including his famous Bunga Bunga sex orgies.

Most Italians identify Berlusconi, a media mogul, soccer entrepreneur and three-time former Prime Minister, as the most influential figure in Italy over recent decades.

But they remain sharply divided on whether his influence was for the better or worse. They are split over whether the three-time former premier merits all the fuss and ceremony that will be on display in Milan.

Italy is preparing to say farewell to Silvio Berlusconi today with a controversial state funeral that has divided the country after his death on Monday. Pictured: People gather outside the Duomo cathedral in Milan on June 14, 2023 ahead of the state funeral for Italy’s former prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi

Pictured: A tearful woman holds up a copy of Italian evening newspaper Corriere della Sera as people gather in Milan ahead of Silvio Berlusconi’s funeral, June 14

Pictured: A woman is seen in Milan today ahead of Berlusconi’s funeral

Berlusconi (pictured in 2018) died at the age of 86 on Monday in a Milan hospital where he was being treated for chronic leukemia

Berlusconi died at the age of 86 on Monday in a Milan hospital where he was being treated for chronic leukemia.

READ MORE: Italy’s scandal-hit former PM Silvio Berlusconi dead at 86 

His family held a private wake Tuesday at one of Berlusconi’s villas near Milan, the city where he made his billions as the head of a media empire before entering politics in 1994.

Large wreaths in the colours of the Italian flag stood along the front of the Duomo, where the ceremony was to begin at 3:00 pm (1400 GMT), presided over by Archbishop Mario Delpini.

It was not clear which current or former world leaders would be present.

The longest-serving premier in Italy’s postwar history, and re-elected to the Senate last year, Berlusconi was famed for controversial gaffes on the international stage.

Political opponents are questioning not only the decisions of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government to hold a state funeral – an honour that can be afforded to all former premiers – but to also declare a national day of mourning.

National days of mourning are more rarely invoked. 

As part of the latter, flags were lowered to half mast on all public buildings from Monday in tribute to a leader whose influence extended well beyond politics, thanks to his extensive TV, newspaper and sporting interests.

Parliament was suspended for three days and the government declared a national day of mourning for Wednesday – the first time for an ex-prime minister.

The decision was criticised by Berlusconi’s detractors, who accused him of cronyism, corruption and pushing through laws to protect his own interests.

Senator Andrea Crisanti said he was ‘strongly against’ such national honours for ‘someone who had no respect for the state’, pointing to Berlusconi’s definitive conviction for tax fraud in 2013.

Rosy Bindi, former head of the Antimafia Commission, said it was ‘inopportune’ for ‘a person as divisive as Berlusconi’.

Repubblica daily said the ‘institutional shutdown’ was ‘extreme’ and compared it to Britain’s protocol for Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Pier Silvio Berlusconi, son of late media mogul and former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, stands at the entrance of Berlusconi’s residence ‘Villa San Martino’ in Arcore near Milan, northern Italy, as he waits for Premier Giorgia Meloni, Tuesday, June 13

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and partner Francesca Verdini walk in front of the Duomo cathedral on June 14 ahead of Berlusconi’s funeral

Wednesday, which is also a national day of mourning, will see the funeral hosted in Milan’s vast and grand Gothic-era Duomo cathedral. Pictured: Wreaths are seen outside the cathedral

Berlusconi’s legacy – positive or negative – was being hotly debated among Italians in the run up to the event, with many furious at such an honour being bestowed upon the man tarnished by scandals – including his famous Bunga Bunga sex orgies. Pictured: People wait for the funeral of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in Milan, Italy June 14

People gather outside the Duomo cathedral in Milan on June 14 ahead of Berlusconi’s funeral

People with AC Milan football club and Forza Italia party flags gather in front of Milan’s Gothic Cathedral ahead of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi’s funeral, Italy, Wednesday, June 14

A woman holds a signed picture of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on the day of his funeral, in Milan, Italy June 14

People sit at a cafe’s terrace outside the Duomo cathedral in Milan on June 14

Reporters, journalists and cameramen wait outside the Duomo cathedral in Milan on June 14

‘Berlusconi split Italy, he insulted adversaries for 30 years, he criminalised the magistrates and he didn’t recognise laws. What are we talking about?’ journalist Marco Travaglio, a long-time Berlusconi critic and co-founder of the il Fatto Quotidiano daily, told private La7 TV on Monday.

READ MORE: The Italian Succession: Spotlight turns on Silvio Berlusconi’s five children from two marriages as they carve up billionaire media tycoon’s empire 

Nevertheless, thousands of Italians are expected to fill the piazza outside Milan’s Duomo to follow the funeral on two maxi-screens.

Meanwhile, family members, political allies and opponents will gather inside.

Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the late tycoon’s son, was seen waiting  outside Berlusconi’s residence ‘Villa San Martino’ in Arcore near Milan.

Berlusconi is survived by his 33-year-old girlfriend, Marta Fascina, with whom he held a fake wedding last year and who was at his bedside as he succumbed to a rare type of blood cancer.

She is expected to be joined in the front pews by Berlusconi’s two ex-wives and five children, some of whom helped run his empire, recently estimated to be worth around $7 billion.

‘You were a great man and an extraordinary father to our children,’ his first wife Carla Dall’Oglio wrote in a eulogy Tuesday.

Hungarian President Viktor Orban is among the highest-ranking of the foreign dignitaries whose attendance at the funeral is confirmed.

Meloni, who got her first government experience as a minister in a Berlusconi coalition, also will attend, along with League leader Matteo Salvini, whose party has long been allied with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. 

Italian President Sergio Mattarella will also be in attendance, while the European Union will be represented by its economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.

Opposition politicians also are expected in a show of respect for a political figure with whom many had sparred.

Berlusconi is widely recognized as a precursor to the type of populist politics that later would bring Donald Trump to power in the United States.

Both used their high profile as businessmen to springboard into the political arena, upending politics as usual along the way.

Supporters of Berlusconi’s legacy cite his success in unifying the Italian center-right after the collapse of the post-war political landscape with the 1990s ‘Clean Hands’ corruption scandal. 

They also see his years as leader as periods of stabilisation, after years of quickly rotating governments, while admiring his bold rule-breaking and irreverence, perhaps especially in the face of other global leaders.

‘He did many big and small things, while suffering a mediatic and judicial aggression that only Craxi before him had endured,’ Stefania Craxi, a senator in Berlusconi’s party and the daughter of late Italian leader Bettino Craxi told private TV La7.

People lay flowers and tributes outside Villa San Martino, the residence of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, in Arcore, near Milan, June 14

People sit near the Monument to King Victor Emmanuel II outside the Milan Cathedral (Duomo) ahead of the state funeral for Italy’s former prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi

Pier Silvio Berlusconi – Berlusconi’s son – departs Villa San Martino in Arcore, where the coffin of his father was brought a day earlier, near Milan, June 13

A photo shows a giant screen depicting late Italian businessman and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and reading ‘Thank you president, forever with us’ outside the AC Milan football club headquarter in Milan on June 13

Her father died in exile in Tunisia in 2000 after being convicted in absentia for involvement in illegal party financing.

Berlusconi’s detractors’ list of political damage is long.

It includes conflicts of interest relating to his media empire, dozens of trials mostly for business dealings, revelations of sex-fuelled Bunga-Bunga parties at his villa near Milan and questionable associations.

The most controversial is his enduring friendship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is subject to an international arrest warrant and cannot travel to Italy.

‘He is not a leader who helped us grow,’ said Beppe Severgnini, a long-time foreign correspondent and writer for Corriere della Sera. ‘He tapped all of our weaknesses: moral, fiscal, sexual, everything.’ 

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