Berlusconi and his political heir (yes, another one...)

Tuesday, 13 August 2013. As Silvio Berlusconi's political future appears more and more doom and gloom, observers, friends and allies of the former prime minister point at his daughter Marina Berlusconi as new leader of the centre-right in Italy.

Marina Berlusconi with her younger  brother Pier Silvio

«I don't believe this will be the end of Berlusconi. The sentence [for tax fraud] will boost his approval» is the opinion of Northern League's founder (and disgraced former secretary) Umberto Bossi, a long-term friend (and sometimes foe) to Silvio Berlusconi, interviewed by Italian wire service ANSA.

Bossi will add that Berlusconi's daughter Marina could pick up the baton, adding to rumours that's been spreading since months.


Marina – who is the firstborn of Silvio and his first wife, Carla Elvira Lucia Dall'Oglio – is the head of family holding Fininvest and publishing company Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (according to Reuters the business empire she's sitting on is worth $6.6 billion, which is £4.3bn), and one of the richest and most influential women in the world.

Marina Berlusconi with her father Silvio

Marina – whose real name is Maria Elvira - turned 47 last Saturday, she is said to be good friends with Silvio's girlfriend Francesca Pascale.

As for Silvio, he is (apparently) preparing a huge protest around Italy, that's been dubbed the “Giro della Libertà” (“The Tour of Freedom”), but his enemies are also working with alacrity in order to expel him from the Senate, ban him from public office, strip him of the knighthood – Beppe Grillo's working on that - and possibly let him burn in hell. Not necessarily in this order.

Mondadori's HQ, designed by Oscar Niemeyer
(built when it wasn't yet  in the hands of Berlusconi's family)

For the above mentioned reasons (and since he has not solved the sex-related scandal issues...) Silvio Berlusconi might find himself in trouble waters in autumn, when he plan a comeback of Forza Italia (“Let's Go Italy!”), the original movement that brought him to “enter the field” and start the political career.

He needs a heir, he needs them now, and – since it's been less than lucky with his previous experiments (with Gianfranco Fini, Angelino Alfano, and so on) – he is looking at blood of his blood. By the way the failure of these attempts to get on with people coming from out of his inner circle might be one of the main reasons why Berlusconi is ditching the PdL, People of Liberty Party.

«Never thought of entering politics, that's not my role,» said Marina Berlusconi in the past, and a month before her father's conviction, Fininvest released a note saying that rumours of her following her father's path were “groundless”. We'll see...