Silvio Berlusconi No More: Life & Times Of The Former Italy PM

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving Prime Minister since World War II, died at 86 on Monday, June 11. He had been fighting leukaemia "for some time". Here is more about the life and times of the scandalous politician.

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Berlusconi was born in 1936, to a middle-class family in Milan. Like many during that time, he was evacuated during World War II and lived with his mother in a village close to the city.

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One of the richest men in Italy, he started by selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, and occasionally singing in nightclubs and cruise ships with his friend Fedele Confalonieri.

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In the 1960s and 70s, the future PM established himself as a residential housing developer in Milan. He got his big break with the construction of Milano 2, which is a self-contained town his company Edilnord built in the suburbs.

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Milano 2 is where he built his media empire, Mediaset, launching Italy's first private channels. He owes a huge part of his popularity and electoral successes to these media channels.

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His political career started off in the 1990s was fiddled with scandals, huge downfalls and even greater comebacks. He became the country's Prime Minister 3 times before he was convicted in a tax fraud.

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In October 2012, he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and was barred from public office.

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More than his political life, the ex-PM is more famous for his private life, especially for his pursuit of younger women. His most recent partner, party colleague Marta Fascina, is only in her early 30s.

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His most high-profile scandal was the alleged "bunga bunga" parties at his villa, attended by showgirls - he was even accused of paying an underage girl for sex.

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Now that he is no more, the future of his political party, Forza Italia, remains in doubt

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