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It didn’t really matter what the oil painting and antiques vendors hawked. “He had this project to build the largest collection in Italy,” said Giuseppe De Gregorio, a televendor near Naples who sold thousands of paintings to Mr. Berlusconi. “He didn’t want important paintings. He wanted paintings. It was enough if they were painted with oil on a canvas.”

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, ”, Giuseppe De Gregorio, Berlusconi, “ Locations: Milan, Italy, Naples

☆ Opinion | The Normal Paths to Beating Trump Are Closing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the quest to escape Donald Trump’s dominance of American politics, there have been two camps: normalizers and abnormalizers. The first group takes its cues from an argument made in these pages by the Italian-born economist Luigi Zingales just after Trump’s 2016 election. The counterargument has been that you can’t just give certain forms of abnormality a pass; otherwise, you end up tolerating not just demagogy but also lawbreaking, corruption and authoritarianism. The more subtle version of the argument insists that normalizing a demagogue is also ultimately a political mistake as well as a moral one and that you can’t make the full case against a figure like Trump if you try to leave his character and corruption out of it. Trump won in 2016 by exploiting the weak points in this abnormalizing strategy, as both his Republican primary opponents and then Hillary Clinton failed to defeat him with condemnation and quarantines, instead of reckoning with his populism’s substantive appeal.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Luigi Zingales, Silvio Berlusconi, Zingales, Berlusconi’s, ”, “, Trump, Hillary Clinton Organizations: Republican Locations: Italian

CNN —Mourners gathered in Milan on Wednesday for the state funeral of Silvio Berlusconi, the divisive and domineering former premier who remained omnipresent in Italian public life for decades until his death this week. Berlusconi’s coffin left Villa San Martino in Arcore, outside Milan, and was transported through the city center to Milan’s gothic Duomo cathedral for Wednesday’s service. Berlusconi, who had a lengthy, scandal-ridden career, died at a Milan hospital on Monday aged 86. But Lana opposed the award of a state funeral to Berlusconi, citing the many trials against him. Widely regarded as Italy’s most colorful public figure, Berlusconi was elected prime minister three times and served for a total of nine years, longer than anyone since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, Villa, Berlusconi, –, Sergio Mattarella, Giorgia Meloni, Viktor Orbán, Paolo Gentiloni, Monsignor Mario Delpini, ” “ Silvio Berlusconi, ”, “, Italy …, Jessica Lana, Lana, Guglielmo Mangiapane, Tomaso Montanari, Monatanari, Milan’s, Marina, Benito Mussolini, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s Organizations: CNN, Villa San, SkyTG24, Forza Italia, AC Milan football team, EU, Reuters, University for Foreigners of, Milan’s San Raffaele, Milan, Bloomberg Locations: Milan, Arcore, Italian, Rei, Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy, Milan’s, University for Foreigners of Siena

☆ Berlusconi’s Legacy Lives On Beyond Italy’s Borders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In Venezuela, a series of corruption scandals opened a power vacuum that Hugo Chávez easily filled with populist appeals, leading to to an authoritarian government that, by the time of his death, oversaw a country racked by crises. When the U.N.-backed group that had investigated Molina began looking into Morales as well, he expelled it from the country. The United States has not had a massive corruption scandal that sent politicians to courtrooms and jail cells and decimated faith in its political parties. That kind of institutional weakness creates an opening for outsider politicians who might once have been kept out of politics by robust political parties. In Italy, Berlusconi presided over and helped maintain decades of weak coalition governments and political turmoil, not to mention the multiple corruption scandals he landed in.

Persons: Bolsonaro, Hugo Chávez, Otto Pérez Molina, Jimmy Morales, ”, Molina, Morales, Trump, Berlusconi Organizations: United, Republican Party Locations: Venezuela, Guatemala, United States, Italy

☆ Opinion | Before Trump, There Was Berlusconi
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Mattia Ferraresi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

ROME — The tycoon-turned-politician spent his career mixing entertainment and power, escaping sex scandals and remodeling his party in his own plasticized image. But it’s actually Silvio Berlusconi, who died on Monday at the age of 86. Four times Italy’s prime minister, Mr. Berlusconi dominated Italian politics for three decades and fundamentally reshaped its landscape and imagination. In leveraging his fame and celebrity to gain power — and managing against all odds to retain it — Mr. Berlusconi provided a template for Mr. Trump’s own political career. Long before Mr. Trump cried “witch hunt” and labeled the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a “psychopath,” Mr. Berlusconi was denouncing a Communist plot brought by judges in “red robes” who were out to destroy him.

Persons: ROME, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, it’s, Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, Mr, Trump’s, strongmen, Long, Trump, Alvin Bragg, ” Mr Organizations: First, Mr Locations: Italian, Milan, First Republic, Manhattan

☆ Opinion: Before Trump or Viktor Orban, there was Italy’s Berlusconi
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ruth Ben-Ghiat | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —“I’m the most persecuted man in all of history,” then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claimed in 2009, just after Italy’s constitutional court stripped him of immunity from prosecution, leaving him vulnerable as he faced yet another corruption trial. Berlusconi, the three-time Italian prime minister who died this week at 86, wrote the script for an authoritarian style of leadership within a democracy. The flamboyant billionaire owner of a business, media and sports empire, Berlusconi privatized Italian television in the 1980s. Italian television had been limited to three state-owned RAI national networks, but by the 1980s Berlusconi’s Mediaset conglomerate owned the three largest private channels. Berlusconi also raised fears in Italians about the loss of “tradition,” using the specter of Italian demographic decline to justify anti-immigrant policies that preceded those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other far-right leaders.

Persons: Ruth Ben, “ Strongmen, Mussolini, CNN — “, ”, Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, Benito Mussolini —, Vladimir Putin, Marcello Dell’Utri, Publitalia, Ferdinando Meazza, “ Mussolini, ” Berlusconi, Viktor Orban, Fininvest, Sergei Chirikov, Donald Trump, “ Organizations: CNN, New York University, Italian, Forza Italia, National Alliance, Italian Social, Northern League, AC Milan soccer, RAI, AC Milan, Milan, Milan's, Italian Communist Party, British, Kremlin, Getty, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Italian, Milan, Milan's San Siro, Italy, Western Europe, Hungarian, Moscow, AFP

☆ Berlusconi Seizes Italy’s Attention Even in Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Not even death could keep Silvio Berlusconi from center stage. And Mr. Berlusconi, who loomed over Italian politics as prime minister and power broker for decades, still dominated the country a day after his death on Monday at 86. Mourners brought flowers to his palatial villa. His critics debated whether he had transformed Italy for good or ill. His most ardent admirers declared that he was foremost in their thoughts and prayers. “I think this was his greatest charisma.”

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, —, Berlusconi, Deborah Bergamini, “ Organizations: Forza Italia, Mr, RAI Locations: Italy

☆ Photos: Silvio Berlusconi’s Life in Italian Business and Politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Organizations: Wall Street

☆ How Berlusconi got his billions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire former prime minister of Italy, died Monday, leaving behind a sprawling business empire. It was through Fininvest that Berlusconi acquired big stakes in some of Europe’s major media firms, as well as AC Milan. Berlusconi owned a 61.3% stake in the holding company at the end of 2021, Reuters has reported. AC Milan players won the Italian championship in 1988 when Silvio Berlusconi was the club's president. Marina Berlusconi, left, Pier Silvio Berlusconi, center, and Mrs. Rosa, Silvio Berlusconi's mother, photograhed in 1998 Luca Bruno/AP/FILEPier Silvio, 53, is the chief executive of MediaForEurope.

Persons: London CNN — Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi, Ferdinando Meazza, MediaForEurope —, Fininvest, ”, Marina, Marina Berlusconi, Pier Silvio Berlusconi, Rosa, Silvio Berlusconi's, photograhed, Luca Bruno, Silvio, — Niamh Kennedy, Sammy Mncwabe Organizations: London CNN, AC Milan, Bloomberg, Media, Milan, Reuters, Mondadori, Italy’s, Prosecutors, Mediaset Locations: Italy, Fininvest, MediaForEurope, Spain, Germany’s ProSiebenSat, Milan

☆ Berlusconi invented the entrepreneur as politician
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Though his Forza Italia party and business empire are already weakened and unlikely to regain much prominence after his death, his unorthodox political methods spawned imitators across the West. Italy’s four-time and longest-serving prime minister, who often quipped he would live until 120, passed away on Monday. Ex-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also became popular by portraying himself as an eccentric outsider. As Italy’s traditional parties collapsed under countless graft charges in the 1990s, he used his media popularity and image as a can-do entrepreneur to exploit Italy’s political void. Follow @LJucca on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSFormer Italian prime minister and broadcaster Mediaset founder Silvio Berlusconi died on June 12, aged 86.

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, Donald Trump ., Boris Johnson, Berlusconi, Beppe Grillo outdid Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin, Giorgia Meloni, MediaForEurope, Neil Unmack, Oliver Taslic Organizations: MILAN, Reuters, Forza Italia, U.S, Donald Trump . Ex, British, Milan soccer, RAI, Star Movement, Thomson Locations: Italian, Italy

☆ Silvio Berlusconi’s memorable quotes and quips
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here are some of his memorable quotes and quips:DEC 2022: Berlusconi tells players of his Monza soccer team he would bring "a bus of whores into the locker room" if they managed to beat a top Serie A rival. FEB 2006: "I am the Jesus Christ of politics," Italian media quoted Berlusconi as telling supporters. Mussolini sent people on holiday in (internal) exile," Berlusconi tells Britain's Spectator magazine, replying "yes" when asked if he thought the World War Two dictator was "benign". You'd be perfect," Berlusconi told German lawmaker Martin Schulz, who was heckling him during his debut at the European Parliament. OCT 2001: Berlusconi causes outcry in the Muslim world when he says the West "should be conscious of the superiority of our civilisation."

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin, Putin, de Silvio Berlusconi, Remo Casilli, Barack Obama, Christ, Tarja Halonen, Mussolini, Mr Schulz, You'd, Martin Schulz, Josep Pique, Conor Humphries Organizations: Monza, Serie, Food Safety Authority, Britain's Spectator, Rome, Thomson Locations: whores, West, Ukraine, Milan, Abruzzo, Rome, Italie, United States, Finnish, Italy, Spain

☆ Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's former showman leader, dies at 86
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Valentina Di Donato Barbie Latza Nadeau Laura Smith-Spark Peter Wilkinson Antonia Mortensen Rob Picheta | Valentina Di Donato | Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Umberto Cicconi/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Berlusconi swims at a Tunisian beach in 1984. Umberto Cicconi/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Berlusconi leaves a 1985 news conference in Paris. Franco Origlia/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Berlusconi announced in November 1993 that he would be entering the world of politics. Franco Origlia/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Berlusconi waves while attending a European Council meeting in Corfu, Greece, in June 1994. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Berlusconi hands the Berlusconi Trophy to AC Milan's Massimo Ambrosini in August 2011.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN — Silvio Berlusconi, Christ, ”, Berlusconi, Milan’s, Benito Mussolini, “ Il Cavaliere ”, Milan, Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini, Silvio Berlusconi, Alessandra Benedetti, Eric Vandeville, Indro Montanelli, Umberto Cicconi, Italy's, Michel Clement, Francis Apesteguy, Veronica Lario, Franco Origlia, Langevin Jacques, Sygma, Cesare Previti, Pope John Paul II, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Veronica, William Stevens, Barbara, Eleonora, Oscar Scalfaro, Patrick Hertzog, Romano Prodi, Alberto Pizzoli, Giuseppe Cacace, Gregorio Borgia, Associated Press Berlusconi, Vittorio Zunino Celotto, Massimo Ambrosini, Claudio Villa, Dan Kitwood, preliminarily, Filippo Monteforte, Alessia Pierdomenico, Remo Casilli, Reuters Berlusconi, Giuseppe Lami, Angelo Carconi, Emanuele Cremaschi, Tiziana Fabi, Luigi Brugnaro, Renato Brunetta, Piero Cruciatti, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Britain’s Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, “ Berlusconi, ” Severgnini, ” Meloni, Claudia Greco, Prodi –, –, Berlusconi’s, Ignazio La Russa, “, Gianfranco Fini –, FILIPPO MONTEFORTE, Vladimir Putin, Volodymr Zelensky, Nobel, salesmanship ’, Jesus Christ, Severgnini, il, salesmanship, Francesca Pascale, Del, Pavarotti, ” Berlusconi, Marina, Carla Dall’Oglio, Luigi Organizations: Rome CNN, Milan’s San Raffaele, Forza Italia, Freedom, Italian, Getty, Canale, AC Milan, Berlusconi, Romano, Associated Press, Associated, Bloomberg, Reuters, Venice, Anadolu Agency, RAI, Media, Milano, Milan –, world’s, Forza Italia Party, Forza, soccer team, Northern League Party, European, Union coalition, Sporting, della, PM, “, ”, Del Monaco Locations: Milan, Paris, AFP, Naples, Italy, Rome, Corfu, Greece, Tatanto, Cannes, France, Italy's, Venice, Italy's Senate, Monza, Lombardy, ”, L’Aquila, Milan’s, Italian, Europe, Ukraine

☆ Silvio Berlusconi, a Showman Who Upended Italian Politics and Culture, Dies at 86
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jason Horowitz | Rachel Donadio | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

He and his party, which built Italy’s center-right coalition when he entered politics in 1994, had become increasingly irrelevant. In 2018, the conservative leadership moved to Matteo Salvini, the hard-right leader of the nationalist League party (formerly the Northern League party). By 2020, the once marginal post-Fascist party Brothers of Italy had outperformed Mr. Berlusconi’s once powerful Forza Italia. But Mr. Berlusconi still dreamed big. In the most right-wing government since Mussolini, Mr. Berlusconi argued that he would keep a toe in the center.

Persons: Matteo Salvini, Berlusconi’s, ” Mr, Berlusconi, ”, Mario Draghi, “, ’ ” Cristian Romaniello, Mr, Draghi, Meloni, Mussolini Organizations: nationalist League party, Northern League, Brothers, Forza Italia, Salvini’s League, “ Fascists, Star, European Central Bank, Five Star Locations: Italy

☆ The Many Twists, Quotes and Scandals of Silvio Berlusconi
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Alan Yuhas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I am the Jesus Christ of politics,” he said in 2006. “I am a patient victim, I bear everything, I sacrifice myself for everyone.”A sex scandal and public exhaustionBut Mr. Berlusconi’s bombastic personality, the accusations of corruption and his chaotic tenure grated on a public tired of debt and inequality. And he continued to outrage. Visiting earthquake survivors in the Abruzzo region in 2009, he said, “They should look at it as a weekend of camping.” The next year, the Vatican’s official newspaper condemned him for telling a “deplorable” joke about Jews and the Holocaust. That same year, he told people at a motorcycle show that it is “better to be fond of beautiful girls than gay.”

Persons: Benito Mussolini “, “ Mussolini, ”, “, “ I’ve, Christ Organizations: European Union, Finns Locations: Italy, Finnish, Finland, Parma, Abruzzo

Rome and Pisa CNN —Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, has been admitted to a hospital in Milan, his spokesman has told CNN. Berlusconi’s latest stay at the San Raffaele hospital comes ahead of a big meeting of his party planned for Saturday. The 86-year-old leader of the Forza Italia party was released from his last stint in hospital on May 19 after a 45 day stay for a lung infection. In a statement on Friday, the hospital said Berlusconi was there for “scheduled examinations related to his known hematological pathology.”Berlusconi has previously been diagnosed with leukemia and was hospitalized in April with breathing problems. He made a return to frontline politics in 2022 when he won a seat in Italy’s Senate, representing the northern municipality of Monza.

Persons: Pisa CNN — Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi’s, San Raffaele, Berlusconi, ” Berlusconi, “ Organizations: Pisa CNN, CNN, San, Forza Italia Locations: Rome, Pisa, Milan, Italy’s Senate, Monza

☆ Where the royal family goes in London, from Indian restaurants to theme parks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Julia Buckley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Well, they’re not, obviously – but sometimes they do put down their tiaras, leave their palaces and join the hoi polloi at restaurants, bars and even theme parks. He once called Brilliant Restaurant in Southall, west London his favorite Indian restaurant – and Gordon Ramsay is also a fan. Stuart C. Wilson/Getty ImagesBack in the noughties, party Prince Harry was a regular at Mahiki, a Tiki-themed bar-club-restaurant in Mayfair. Simon Dack/AlamyIn his memoir “Spare,” Prince Harry wrote about popping out to shop for clothes at T.K. Toby Melville/Getty ImagesThe-then Meghan Markle was apparently spied In the heart of Chelsea while she was engaged to Prince Harry, getting a facial from Sarah Chapman.

☆ World's longest bridge could transform Sicily. But not if the Mafia and earthquakes get in the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Since then, various plans, including a short-lived idea for a tunnel, have come and gone – like water under the bridge. If built, the bridge across the Straits of Messina would span two miles (3.2 kilometers) and would be the longest suspension bridge in the world. When Salvini became transport minister, he made it his priority, betting his legacy on the bridge. “The bridge over the Strait of Messina is a project that can break ground immediately. The recent arrest of Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro after 30 years on the lam in Sicily represented a victory.

☆ Giorgia Meloni: Will Italy's PM stop the boats or will the boats stop her?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Rome CNN —The key campaign promise that brought Giorgia Meloni and her far-right coalition to power in a landslide victory in last September’s election was a vow to do what no one else had done before: stop migrant boats using Italy as a gateway into Europe. On the campaign trail she promised to halt all migrant boats from landing on Italian shores, no matter who was on them and what drove them to risk their lives. Liberal European leaders stood to gain from the prospect of Meloni’s promise to stop the boats, and many hoped she could pull it off. He says to most Italians, the migrant crisis is still something they hear about, not something that impacts them directly. Meloni has taken tough action over migrant boats since taking power but faces fierce opposition.

☆ Italy's far-right leader Giorgia Meloni forms new government
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A presidential palace official announced that Ms Meloni and her Cabinet would be sworn in on Saturday. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, secured the most votes in Italy’s national election last month. Meloni made no public comments before leaving the Quirinal presidential palace. Giorgia Meloni, center, leaves the Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome on Friday. Berlusconi and Salvini are long-time admirers of Russian President Vladimir Putin; Meloni staunchly backs Ukraine in its defence against the Russian invasion.

Giorgia Meloni, a nationalist accused by political rivals and experts of spreading white supremacist ideas, was on Monday set to become Italy's first far-right leader since World War II. The results confirm her party’s rise from a radical fringe group to the driving force in right-wing Italian politics. Meloni, who would be Italy's first female leader, and the Brothers of Italy advocate naval blockades to stop unauthorized migration from Africa. Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, in Rome on Monday. Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni casts her vote at a polling station in Rome on Sunday.

☆ Italy’s right-wing winners inherit poison chalice
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Soaring energy prices are destabilising large sections of Italy’s economy, possibly leading to rationing and a recession. League leader Salvini, a former eurosceptic who has backed Russian President Vladimir Putin, favours borrowing 30 billion euros to subsidise energy bills. Follow @LJucca on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSGiorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy emerged as the largest party in Italy’s parliament in the general election on Sept. 25. With counting nearly complete on Sept. 26, Meloni’s party had attracted nearly 26% of preferences, according to Interior Ministry data. The coalition is expected to form a government by the end of October with 45-year-old Meloni as prime minister, the first female premier in Italy’s history.

☆ A far-right nationalist looks likely to become Italy’s first female prime minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Patrick-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Patrick Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

Meloni leads the Brothers of Italy Party (Fratelli d’Italia, or FdI), a populist party with roots in Italy’s post-war fascist movement. From left, The League's Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia's Silvio Berlusconi, and Brothers of Italy's Giorgia Meloni attend the final rally of the center-right coalition in Rome on Thursday. Meloni’s office and the Brothers of Italy Party did not answer requests for comment by NBC News. Clashes between protesters and police close to a rally held by election frontrunner Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday in Palermo, Sicily. And now it’s happening with Giorgia Meloni,” he said.

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