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As Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi (1936-2023) served multiple terms: from May to December in 1994, from 2001 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011. He began his career as a media magnate, seeking to privatize Italian television, and succeeding in gaining control of a large majority of Italian television and newspapers. With these, he was able to found the Forza Italia and launch a political campaign based on the political chaos that resulted from the fall of communism and rising anti-immigrant sentiment from the right wing. His election served a dual purpose: not only did he want power, but he wanted to avoid legal prosecution for tax fraud and bribery.
Once in power, Berlusconi used his media machine to disseminate both cultural and political propaganda. His image became synonymous with the Italy he wished to build: culturally conservative, violently misogynistic, and heavily anti-immigrant, fearing white replacement. Berlusconi emphasized his own virility and was known for throwing wild sex parties, something that would later get him into legal trouble, and stoking a culture of misogyny among Italian men. On the legal side, he went to great efforts to protect himself and his cronies from prosecution, passing law after law to protect himself and his companies from investigation and accusation. However, he was not able to do so forever, and his fall from power came when he was forced to resign after being investigated in 2011 on charges of sex with an underage dancer as well as his handling of the eurozone crisis.
