Silvio Berlusconi, self-styled man of the people
By Francesca Caferri, CNN Italia
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Silvio Berlusconi
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ROME, Italy -- Rallying supporters, Silvio Berlusconi refers to himself as a blue collar worker, an entrepreneur, a man in tune with farmers and a craftsman.
Opponents have compared him to Zelig, the Woody Allen movie character whose appearance blends in with every person he talks to.
The the leader of the Forza Italia party and head of the centre-right coalition known as Casa delle Libertà (House of liberties) sees himself as the "best political leader in Europe and in the world."
"Because of my personal history, my professional skills and my business achievements, I am a man nobody can expect to compare himself with."
Born in Milan 65 years ago to a housewife and a bank clerk, Berlusconi is now Italy's richest man.
In 1999, he declared an income of 16.2 billion lira ($7.4 million), while his personal wealth was estimated by Forbes magazine at $12.8 million.
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"Let people decide whether there is a conflict of interest or not"
Silvio Berlusconi
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Berlusconi is a self-made man, a master of his own fate, whose early work experience was gathered as a singer on cruise ships.
In the 1960s, he used loans to create a firm of contractors that
built Milano 2, a large suburban area near Italy's second largest city.
Ten years later, he moved into the rapidly developing television industry. Today, Berlusconi and his family own Fininvest, a company that controls the three commercial TV channels belonging to Mediaset, Italy's major private network.
Married twice, Berlusconi has five children. Marina and Piersilvio from his first marriage help manage the family business. The three younger children are from Berlusconi's second marriage with former actress Veronica Lario.
The Berlusconi family empire is vast, from telecommunications to insurance and building. It includes top football team AC Milan, the Mediolanum bank, Italy's largest publishing house Mondadori, leading daily newspaper Il Giornale and the popular news magazine Panorama.
Opponents say there would be too many conflicts of interest for him to become prime minister for the second time.
"Let people decide whether there is a conflict of interest or not," Berlusconi replies. "There's parliament, which is a sovereign judge, there's the press exercising its right to criticise -- not to mention the Italian court system."
"The politician who is in the spotlight may be able to favour the friends of his friends, but he is definitely not able to favour himself."
The centre-left wants laws to regulate interests. Berlusconi says this is just a way to stop him fighting elections.
But he has also had to contend since the early 1990s with numerous judicial inquiries into his business activities.
He has been cleared of charges involving budget fraud and corruption. But three cases remain pending in Italy and one in Spain.
| • | Born September 29, 1936 in a middle class family in Milan, northern Italy
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| • | Studied law at the University of Milan and befriended Bettino Craxi, a future prime minister of Italy
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| • | Formed Fininvest in 1975 which now controls Italy's three private Mediaset television stations and Mondadori, the biggest publishing house
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| • | Italy's richest man, worth an estimated $13bn
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| • | Purchased soccer team AC Milan in 1986 to cement his celebrity status
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| • | Became Prime Minister in 1994 only to resign seven months later
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| • | Lost the 1996 election to Romano Prodi, now President of the European Commission
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The magnate has accused his opponents of manipulating prosecutors and judges, although his language has become milder. "Each time they accuse me, I get five more points in opinion polls."
Politically, Berlusconi's breakthrough came in 1993 when he founded Forza Italia (Go Italy), the chant of fans of Italy's national football team.
In 1994, he won national elections and became prime minister in a coalition with the Lega Nord (Northern League) and Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance), a party that had replaced much of its neo-Fascist ideology with mainstream conservative views.
The coalition lasted just seven months and the left took power in 1996.
Berlusconi has been preparing his comeback ever since. He seems to have learnt from previous mistakes.
Forza Italia has been reorganised and his quarrelsome ally, and Lega Nord leader, Umberto Bossi has been kept under control.
"I can vouch for Bossi," Berlusconi said when Bossi was accused of making xenophobic and anti-European Union statements.
Berlusconi's self-confidence remains unchanged.
"When Italians chose between someone whose life demonstrates he's a doer and someone whose life demonstrates he's a talker, I believe there are going to be no doubts about Italians' common sense," he said in reference to his political opponent Francesco Rutelli.
Berlusconi backs this up by trading on his image, flooding the country with posters showing his face and carrying slogans like "safer cities, a job and less taxes for everybody."
He tells businessmen he is one of them, he tells farmers how he helped his parents in the fields after World War II and he tells craftsmen that he laid the carpet in his first office.
The message is clear: I am one of you, a self-made man. What I did, you can do.
Most Italians, if the polls are to be believed, believe it.
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