Silvio Did Some Good

Silvio Berlusconi has undoubtedly left his mark on Italian history and society over the last half century more than anyone else. Much of what Italy is today, as a country and as individuals, comes from what he was. Or rather, what his image was. Because Berlusconi’s extraordinary ability, in whatever field he chose to engage, was his ability to create a facade. So, in order to understand the Berlusconi phenomenon and to begin a historical evaluation of him, we must examine the ‘myth’ on which his reputation is based. In this book, Ferruccio Pinotti, who has devoted years of research and study to Berlusconi, deconstructs and analyses this myth with extraordinary rigour. Starting from the origins of his fortune and traversing his personal, business and political life, the author compares propaganda and factual analysis, reconstructing in a clear and agile style, the truth behind the parable of the “Cavaliere”. In each chapter, the commonplaces of Berlusconi’s narrative (the self-made man, the Catholic, the victim of ‘communists’, Milan, women…) are explored and clarified with documented evidence. A fundamental book for understanding our times and the man who shaped them.