'The majority of Italians in their hearts would like to be like me and see themselves in me and in how I behave,' Berlusconi said in 2009, during his third and final stint as premier.
ROME, Italy --
A onetime cruise ship crooner, Berlusconi used his television networks and immense wealth to launch his long political career, inspiring both loyalty and loathing. Former Premier Matteo Renzi recalled Berlusconi's divisive legacy in a message on Twitter on Monday. "Silvio Berlusconi made history in this country. Many loved him, many hated him. All must recognize that his impact on political life, but also economic, sport and television, has been without precedence."As Berlusconi aged, some derided his perpetual tan, hair transplants and live-in girlfriends who were decades younger.
He stayed at the helm of Forza Italia, the center-right party he created when he entered politics in the 1990s and named for a soccer cheer, "Let's go, Italy." With no groomed successor in sight, voters started to desert it. In 2013, guests at one of his parties included an under-age Moroccan dancer whom prosecutors alleged had sex with Berlusconi in exchange for cash and jewelry. After a trial spiced by lurid details, a Milan court initially convicted Berlusconi of paying for sex with a minor and using his office to try to cover it up. Both denied having sex with each other, and he was eventually acquitted.
Berlusconi saw himself as Italy's savior from what he described as the Communist menace - years after the Berlin Wall fell. From the start of his political career in 1994, he portrayed himself as the target of a judiciary he described as full of leftist sympathizers. He always proclaimed his innocence.
Berlusconi was nicknamed "Papi" - or "Daddy" - by an aspiring model whose 18th birthday bash he attended, also to his wife's irritation. Later, self-described escort Patrizia D'Addario said she spent the night with him on the evening that Barack Obama was elected U.S. president in 2008. When criticized in 2003 at the European Parliament by a German lawmaker, Berlusconi likened his adversary to a concentration camp guard. Years later, he drew outrage when he compared his family's legal woes to what Jews must have encountered in Nazi Germany.
His first government in 1994 collapsed after eight months when an ally who led an anti-immigrant party yanked support. But aided by an aggressive campaign that included mass mailings of glossy magazines recounting his success story, Berlusconi swept to victory in 2001.
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