Silvio Berlusconi may have polarized Italy during his decades in the media and political spotlight, but the initial reaction to his death at 86 on Monday was marked by unity and praise, even if sometimes grudging.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose government included Mr. Berlusconi’s party as a coalition partner, described him as “one of the most influential men in Italian history.” The justice minister, Carlo Nordio, spoke of “an end to an era of Italian history” in which the former prime minister and media titan was an “undisputed protagonist in the life of the country.”
The Vatican secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, said that he had relayed the condolences of Pope Francis, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, to Mr. Berlusconi’s daughter Elvira. The pope, Mr. Parolin said, described Mr. Berlusconi as a “leading figure in Italian political life who held public responsibilities with energetic temper.”
Mr. Berlusconi’s unexpected move into politics in the 1990s polarized Italians between those who believed that he was more interested in serving his own business interests than those of the nation and those who saw Mr. Berlusconi as a break with a corrupt and politically impotent class.
An investigation conducted by prosecutors in various Italian cities during those years swept away most of the political class that had governed Italy since the Second World War, and Mr. Berlusconi stepped into the vacuum that was created.
Even before entering politics, Mr. Berlusconi had revolutionized Italian viewing tastes through his three television channels, which carried more glamorous fare — including game shows and American soap operas such as “Dallas” and “Dynasty” — than that offered by the state broadcaster, RAI. They were the first private national channels available in Italy, and Mr. Berlusconi would go on to use them, and their stars, to bolster his political career.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a longtime friend and member of Mr. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, posted a photograph on Twitter showing the two men early in their political careers, some three decades ago. “Immense suffering. Simply, thank you President, thank you Silvio,” he wrote.
Even lawmakers who had spent political careers criticizing Mr. Berlusconi recognized his influence on Italian politics.
Though he spent 30 years opposing Mr. Berlusconi “on a political level” in “harsh conflict,” the former prime minister Massimo D’Alema said in a note reported by the Italian news media that Mr. Berlusconi had made an “indisputable contribution” toward creating a new conservative bloc in Italy “linked to the European democratic system.”
Elly Schlein, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, an incarnation of which Mr. D’Alema once led, said in a statement that, while “everything has divided us, and divides us from his political vision,” the party expressed “human respect to a person who was a protagonist of our country’s history.”
“The end of an era” blazoned the headline in the daily La Repubblica, arguably the major newspaper that most openly opposed Mr. Berlusconi when he first entered politics in 1994.
Foreign leaders also expressed their condolences. Mr. Berlusconi had been a staunch defender of Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said in a message that Mr. Berlusconi had made an “invaluable contribution to the mutually beneficial Russian-Italian partnership,” the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
In France, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen remembered Mr. Berlusconi as “an atypical figure, with an extraordinary life and a dazzling career, who undeniably left his mark on Italian political life.”
A.C. Milan, the soccer team that under Mr. Berlusconi’s ownership won both domestic and European titles, issued a tribute on its website: “Silvio Berlusconi, forever with us,” it read, extending its condolences “to the family of the unforgettable President.”
On its website, A.C. Monza, the soccer team that Mr. Berlusconi owned at the time of his death, wrote, “A void that can never be filled, forever with us. Thank you for everything President.”
Mr. Nordio said in his statement that Mr. Berlusconi would be remembered for “the debate around justice,” which Mr. Berlusconi had always intended to steer in a “liberal direction,” a reference to the clashes with the judiciary that accompanied the protracted legal battles that Mr. Berlusconi faced during his three decades in politics.
On Monday, Marcello Viola, the chief prosecutor of Milan, where Mr. Berlusconi waged most of his court cases, issued his condolences for “a person who marked Italy’s history.”
“This sentiment of human participation in the grief and mourning of the family must prevail now,” Mr. Viola added, in remarks quoted by ANSA.
Gaia Pianigiani contributed reporting from Siena, Italy and Aurelien Breeden from Paris.
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