His death has been described in the Italian press as the "end of an era".
Silvio Berlusconi died on Monday at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, his doctors said in a statement. The former Italian Prime Minister was readmitted last Friday for planned medical checks related to his chronic leukaemia. The 86-year-old had recently spent 45 days in the same hospital being treated for a lung infection and chronic leukaemia, before being discharged exactly three weeks ago. The three-time premier was one of Italy's most successful businessmen and an influential, yet controversial and divisive, politician. He was a dominant force in Italian politics for the last 30 years and still headed his centre-right party, Forza Italia, despite suffering several health issues since 2016.
Last year, his party entered the right-wing coalition currently in government, with Berlusconi returning to parliament as an elected senator after a nine-year-long hiatus.
But many now agree that Berlusconi had been progressively marginalised and isolated within the context of Italian politics, and had lost the role of leader of the country's right-wing coalition.
Berlusconi's death is "the end of an"era" for Italy, according to the country's Repubblica newspaper.
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