Bunga bunga and bling aside, Berlusconi’s legacy is a loss of faith in Italy’s political elite

One of European politics’ most controversial figures, his career was marked by tawdry sex and corruption scandals

Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi waves to reporters as he arrives at the Chamber of Deputies to meet Mario Draghi, in Rome, Feb. 9, 2021. Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File

Best known for his perma-tan, gaffes, “bunga bunga” parties and outsized ego, Silvio Berlusconi was a proto-Trumpian populist, the man to beat in Rome for more than two decades, and one of European politics’ most controversial figures.

Italy’s longest-serving postwar prime minister, Berlusconi, who has died aged 86 according to Italian media, held the job on three occasions, amassing along the way a fortune ranked by Forbes magazine last year as the country’s fourth-biggest.