Silvio Berlusconi

BELGRADE - Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic signed a book of condolences at the Italian embassy in Belgrade on Wednesday following the passing of Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi.

The man who changed the face of Italy and paved the way for the ruling far right died on Monday, but Berlusconism has risen. After Silvio Berlusconi's death, my country seems to have fallen under a spell. The major TV channels broadcast hagiographic reports of the four-time prime minister, with nostalgic music playing in the background.

Italy prepared to say farewell to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi Wednesday, with thousands of people expected at the billionaire tycoon's state funeral in Milan.

The ceremony for Berlusconi, who died Monday aged 86, will be held in the city's Gothic Duomo cathedral and shown live on big screens in the square.

Silvio Berlusconi, controversial former Italian Prime Minister and media tycoon, died in a Milan'private hospital San Raffaele on Tuesday aged 86 at around 9.30am.

He reportedly had leukaemia and was hospitalised for six weeks in the spring before being readmitted on Friday. 

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died.

The 86-year-old billionaire and media mogul died at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italian media reported.

Berlusconi first came to power in 1994 and led four governments until 2011.

Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister who reshaped Italy's political and cultural landscape while fending off multiple legal and sex scandals, has died aged 86, his spokesman confirmed to AFP Monday.

The words of the former Italian Prime Minister, who was legally sentenced to prison, and is now the leader of the party he founded, which is part of the winning right-wing coalition, were uttered yesterday, during a closed meeting with the newly elected Forza senators in the Palazzo Montecitori.

Italy prosecutors have opened an investigation into the death of a Moroccan model who testified in one of the inquiries linked to ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will run in the European Parliament election in May, he announced Thursday.

"At my lovely age, I've decided out of a sense of responsibility to head for Europe where there is a lack of deep thinking about the world," said Berlusconi, 82, in Sardinia on the first stop of his campaign tour, POLITICO EU reported.

More than 50 foreign leaders, including Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, as well as a number of former prime ministers, like Germany’s Gerhard Schröder and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, attended Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony in Ankara on July 9. Click through for their photos...