Silvio Berlusconi, media tycoon, politician and billionaire, four time Prime Minister of Italy, responsible for his country’s decline in economic terms and in standards of public life, has died aged 86.
He exploited his wealth and influence over the media to acquire and wield power in an undemocratic manner. Like Trump and others who followed, he had millions of adoring supporters — and numerous critics outraged by his scandalous sexual behaviour with younger women and his disregard for the law. Throughout his years at the top, Italian prosecutors launched hundreds of investigations into his business affairs. They sought to convict him on charges ranging from tax fraud and false accounting to bribery of judges and illegal political party financing. Only by 2013 was he convicted of tax fraud for which he did not serve a prison sentence but was made to perform a year of community service in an old people’s home near his sumptuous Milan residence.
He was born 29 September 1936 5.40am Milan, Italy, the son of a bank employee, graduated in law and went into real estate with questionable financing, and two of his business partners were later convicted of crimes, one of collusion with the mafia.
He had a Sun Mercury in Libra is his exuberant 1st house with an equally super-optimistic Jupiter in Sagittarius in his 3rd house. His Venus in Scorpio in his financial 2nd house would give him a taste for spending money and indulging himself in the pleasures of the flesh – the 2nd house being Taurus’s natural home. Venus also squares Pluto for passion, possessiveness and manipulation; and his Venus opposed an 8th house Uranus in the chart area of business finances and sexuality – inventive, unpredictable, changeable.
He also had a creative and neurotic Moon Saturn in Pisces opposition Neptune squaring onto his Jupiter – so he would channel his over active imagination into his boastful Jupiter in the 3rd to great effect.
His chart certainly reflects money and sex as foreground issues and given that he was blessed with a gift for self-promotion and communication with a 1st house Sun and 3rd house Jupiter, his career choice of the media seems logical.
He fitted the Italy Republic 10 June 1946 4pm chart well – with his Pluto on the Italy Midheaven and his Jupiter conjunct the South Node and his Sun conjunct the Italy 12th house Neptune. He controlled Italy’s destiny and direction for a while, though pulling it back it into its less evolved traits with his bombastic cheer and appealed to its delusions.
Honestly, I’m not missing the guy and am shaking my head over sanctification that’s happening in Italy right now. I understand the need to give close ones time to mourn, but there’s also a degree of hypocrisy from certain parts. To be noted, Berlusconi’s most credible political opponent during his heyday, Romano Prodi, lost his wife of 54 years, Flavia Franzoni, on Tuesday. Franzoni was an unusually visible political spouse in Italy, where “power couples” are rare, so smart and compassionate people on centerleft had a good excuse not to attend Berlusconi’s funeral and can abstain from commenting on Berlusconi for still some time.
But the rest of us can contemplate on the mark Berlusconi left both to Italian and international politics. I, for instance, don’t think BoJo or Trump could exist without Berlusconi. While the rest of the World was laughing at Italian “clown” and gasping that someone that unserious could never be in power at their countries, Berlusconi did normalize narcissistic and bizarre behavior from elected officials. Mind you, I will never deny Berlusconi was immensely smarter than his copies, while he got his start as an organized crime money launderer, it was because he was quick, good with numbers, and apparently had a photographic memory (Sun/Mercury 1st house). He could, and did, beat Rupert Murdoch at his own game.
In addition, I can’t begin to tell how detrimental Berlusconi was to Italian culture. It’s interesting to look at how Italy and Spain have evolved in the past 40 years. In 1993 Spain was freshly out of a conservative fascist dictatorship, Italy had enjoyed almost 50 years of democracy and continuos economic growth. In 2023, Spain has surpassed Italy in almost every human development index measurement, but especially in women’s and LGTBQ+ rights. I would argue that while Mediaset did bring it channels to Spain (and I think parts of Latin America), they never were as pervasive, and the content never was as clearly conceived in a mind that was eternally stuck into 1950’s on many matters.
Thanks Solaia, very interesting. There is an Italian theme of sorts, running through their colourful history. I do know Italy as we know it now did not exist as a unified nation in the past, making things even more complicated. But in terms of what I might call historical legends and myths – there’s the endless parade of Roman Emperors, for example, and then powerful, influential families such as the Borgias, the Medici family of Florence, and so on.
At some level, people are drawn to figures that resonate with history as current cultures perceive it. Berlusconi was a performer (as narcissists tend to be), and I think somehow tuned into this in Italy’s collective unconscious for his own benefit.
Having friends in Italy, I had heard many dark rumours about Berlusconi in the past. I sometimes wonder what may surface eventually.
@Jane, Berlusconi’s mafia connections starting from the 1970’s have been credibly reconstructed by various “pentiti” as early as the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. Yet none of that stuck.
Origins of his initial wealth are harder to proof, but Wondery’s “Bunga Bunga” podcast from a couple of years back has a good, English language “introduction” to the work Marco Travaglio (who has, since, sadly, somewhat lost it as an investigative reporter) and Elio Veltri did in the turn of Millenium to look at how Berlusconi got his very first loans and contracts.
Therefore, I’d say Italians have been very aware of what’s going on with Berlusconi, but the prevailing attitude has been indifference due to the political scandals of the early 1990’s and murkiness of the whole post-war political life.
Thanks for your always-insightful knowledge and commentary, Solaia!
Thanks Marjorie. Another overwhelming political character leaves the stage. Italy certainly seems to have form when it comes to flamboyant politicians. Mussolini, obviously, but also Guilio Andreotti, 14 January 1919. Known as the Old Fox, and also a former law student. His chart on Astrodienst is quite a striking one. The brilliant 2008 film, ‘Il Divo’ related a “fantasy” of his involvement with infinitely shady dealings – touching on connections with the Vatican and Mafia in Italy.
I also recall Tony and Cherie Blair enjoying a jolly holiday with Berlusconi. Sometimes, it is hard to know what to say…..
@Jane, while influencial, I wouldn’t call Andreotti “flamboyant”. He actually was continuosly targeted by comedians for his lack of charisma and physical presence. Italians voted mainly for his party, not him, but it’s also to be said that few of the post-War center right politicians wanted to evoke strong memories of Il Duce, Berlusconi changing that to an extend.