The television journalist was widely criticised for apparent victim-blaming comments following a gang rape case, and appeared to make advances to a female colleague as well as boasting of an affair.

Some credit the leader, affectionately known as ‘King George’, with saving the country from financial ruin, while critics said he overstepped his bounds.

Tens of thousands of people outside the Duomo and within erupted in applause as a sign of respect as Berlusconi’s flower-draped casket was hoisted out of the hearse and into the cathedral.

The four-time prime minister was a media mogul and political showman whose financial and sexual scandals made him the most polarising figure in modern Italy

The 86-year-old billionaire media mogul is hospitalised for scheduled checks related to his blood cancer, doctors say.

The 86-year-old former prime minister had heart surgery in 2016, has also had prostate cancer, and has been repeatedly admitted to hospital since contracting Covid-19 in 2020.

The former prime minster was accused of paying 24 people to provide false testimony in a trial where he was charged with paying for sex with 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer.

The victory by the prime minister’s right-wing coalition cements her position nearly 4 months after she took office.

Berlusconi was charged with paying an Italian singer US$162,000 to lie in a previous trial where he was accused of paying to have sex with a 17-year-old dancer.

The premier used her trip to Brussels to declare that her country would be a force to reckon with in the bloc’s affairs.

The country’s first female prime minister recited the ritual oath of office, pledging to be faithful to Italy’s post-war republic and to act ‘in the exclusive interests of the nation’.

Her anti-immigration Brothers of Italy party won the September polls but needs outside support to form a government.

Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent him 20 bottles of vodka and a ‘very sweet letter’ for his birthday.

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is making his return to Italy’s parliament, winning a seat in the Senate nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction.

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni said she was ready to govern for ‘all Italians’ after her Eurosceptic populists swept to victory in general elections.

Vote comes as Italy battles series of crises, from rampant inflation and extreme weather events to energy crisis aggravated by war in Ukraine.

Giorgia Meloni has been called a fascist, an extremist and – to an extent – a de facto heir to 20th century dictator Benito Mussolini. She also seems well on her way to becoming Italy’s next prime minister.

He wanted to resign because he didn’t have the backing of parties in his coalition, which are unhappy about his reference to fiscal reform, freeing up beach concessions and his pledge of military aid to Ukraine.

Mattarella, 80, had ruled out remaining in office, but agreed after parties failed to find a mutually acceptable alternative candidate in a week of fraught voting in parliament.

The 85-year-old billionaire and former premier had been campaigning behind the scenes for weeks to replace outgoing President Sergio Mattarella.

The Italian head of state is set to meet the presidents of both parliamentary chambers before talks on Thursday and Friday with party leaders.

The 83-year-old flamboyant former prime minister was taken to hospital ‘as a precaution’ according to his aides. More than 35,500 people have died from Covid-19 in Italy.

Ex-prime minister had no symptoms but decided to take Covid-19 test because of recent holiday in Sardinia, doctor says.

The decade-long romantic relationship between Italy's octogenarian former prime minister and Francesca Pascale is over.

Amid waving national flags and ‘Salvini Premier’ banners, the right-wing alliance staged an uneasy show of unity.

Moroccan-born woman had reportedly told her lawyer that she feared being poisoned.