This morning at 9.30 Silvio Berlusconi, the man of a thousand lives, died at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan.
After four days in hospital, his condition has suddenly worsened in the last few hours. His brother Paolo and his daughter Marina had arrived at the hospital shortly before, soon joined by Barbara, Pier Silvio and Eleonora, while his partner Marta Fascina was already at the ex premier's side. Then the news: the clinical situation was too compromised, the president didn't make it.
The 86-year-old former prime minister was discharged from the same hospital on May 19, after more than forty days in hospital. Last Friday he had returned to the facility to undergo "scheduled tests", his doctors had announced, linked to the chronic myelomonocytic leukemia he had been suffering from for some time. But the situation has precipitated.
Around lunchtime, the hearse with the coffin left the hospital and reached Villa San Martino in Arcore. There will be no funeral home , the news according to which it would be set up in Cologno Monzese has been denied by Mediaset: «Contrary to what was announced by press rumors, for reasons of public order, funeral homes will not be set up inside the Mediaset television studios nor somewhere else".
The state funeral will be held on Wednesday (day of national mourning) in the Milan Cathedral, at 3 pm, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. The Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Delpini, will celebrate them. Maxi screens will be set up to allow everyone to attend the funeral in Piazza Duomo.
Until Wednesday, the body will remain in Villa San Martino in Arcore. For reasons of public order, entry will be reserved exclusively for immediate family members .
Meanwhile, hundreds of people, including many Milan and Monza fans, are arriving in front of Villa San Martino to leave a scarf or a flower.
By decision of the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, flags at half-mast in Palazzo Madama and in the other buildings that house the offices of the Senate , as a sign of mourning. The Municipality of Arcore has proclaimed the city mourning. At the request of the FI group, the activity of the Chamber in the Chamber is suspended today and tomorrow.
The news is going around the world and is breaking news in the main international newspapers.
"Italy is the country I love, here I have my roots, my hopes, my horizons" . It was January 26, 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi announced his descent into the field: nine minutes of speech that changed the history of Italian politics and imposed on the scene a strong personality , much loved or much hated. From the first victory, on March 27, 1994, to sunset in November 2011, the Knight entered and left Palazzo Chigi four times. He created an empire, first with the construction industry by building Milan 2 in the 1970s; then editorial and television, with Mediaset, which since the 1980s has broken the banks of the public tele-radio transmission system. And he was patron of his favorite team, AC Milan, taking him to the top of Italy, Europe and the world.
Berlusconi e l'avventura tv che ha cambiato l'Italia
«He was above all a fighter, he was a man who had never been afraid to defend his convictions and it was exactly that courage and that determination that made him one of the most influential men in the history of Italy, that allowed him to impress real carried out in the world of politics, communication and business», the memory of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini received the news during a meeting with the Coast Guard on Lake Maggiore. He asked for a minute's silence for "a great man and a great Italian" then canceled all public appointments and set off for Milan.
Silvio Berlusconi, he added, "will be missed, but we still have a lot to do. He said to me, 'don't forget, I've started many works, you finish them'. It will certainly be more difficult, because he was able to get everyone to agree, to keep everyone in tune, to have a thought for everyone. We will humbly try to carry on at least a small part of his enormous work ».
"Berlusconi was a great political leader who marked the history of our Republic, influencing paradigms, uses and languages", the note from the Quirinale . Pope Francis sent a telegram of condolences to the family expressing "heartfelt participation in mourning the loss of a protagonist of Italian political life, who covered public responsibilities with an energetic temper".
(Unioneonline/D)