Italian comedians are in mourning after the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi, whose gaffes and scandal-prone profile provided satirists with easy pickings for nearly two decades.
“No one was like Berlusconi,” said Emilio Giannelli, cartoonist for the top-selling Corriere della Sera daily, whose caricature of a dwarfish Silvio Berlusconi in high-heeled shoes to make him taller has been famous for years.
“Mr Berlusconi was the ideal subject. He broke the wall of sound of satire. Think of someone who said he wanted to call his party ‘Go Pussy!’” the cartoonist said of the billionaire’s latest in a long line of quips. In a sketch on public Rai 3 television immediately after Mr Berlusconi’s resignation, the comedian Antonio Cornacchione mockingly thanked Mr Berlusconi on behalf of all of Europe’s satirists for giving them nearly two decades of material.
“You never abandoned us,” said Mr Cornacchione, who has impersonated Mr Berlusconi for years, as he reeled off some of the most famous gaffes, like making German Chancellor Angela Merkel wait at a 2009 Nato summit while he finished a phone call in front of her.
The sketch was only partly intended for comic effect – Mr Berlusconi’s political, legal and sexual adventures have been a defining feature of Italian media, café chats and dinner party conversations for many years.
“Mr Berlusconi sells. The only day when we had a dip in sales from the previous year was the day we didn’t have him on the front page,” the editor of a large left-wing daily said a few months ago as Mr Berlusconi’s star faded.
Ever since first entering politics in the early 1990s with a party named after a football chant — Forza Italia (“Go Italy”) – the colourful tycoon has in turns enthralled and disgusted Italians, but he was never boring.
Pierferdinando Casini, leader of the centrist UDC party, said a politician who personalised politics to the extent that Mr Berlusconi did was also helpful for the opposition because he could be blamed if anything went wrong.
“Mr Berlusconi has been a great alibi for everyone,” Mr Casini said, adding: “The fall of this government will force us to confront each other.”
Il Messaggero daily said that Mr Berlusconi “represented, for better or for worse, the axis around which national political life was organised”.
“His central role represented a hope for the half of the country that believed in him ... and on the contrary a nightmare for the other half that said his political adventure was an anomaly to be defeated,” it said. As Mr Berlusconi aged and the economic crisis in Italy deepened, the number of Italians disillusioned with him has surged. In his latest poll, the media tycoon had an approval rating of just 22 per cent. He has continued to be a popular subject for conversation, however, exasperating dinner party hosts and dispiriting Italians abroad who have had to face the many jokes about Mr Berlusconi’s bad boy behaviour. “When I go abroad, every time I say I’m Italian, I have to endure all the jokes about Mr Berlusconi, the bunga-bunga” – a reference to Mr Berlusconi’s allegedly raunchy parties – sighed one Italian executive.
Timeline - Week of drama
A chronology of the main events:
Tuesday: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he will resign after a series of defections deprive his coalition of a parliamentary majority amid heavy market pressure and EU warnings of a “very worrisome” debt crisis in Italy.
Wednesday: The rate on Italian 10-year bonds soars to a record of 7.483 per cent – raising fears Italy will need a bailout – and European auditors arrive in Rome as part of a humiliating international monitoring system.
Thursday: Britain’s David Cameron says Italy is a “clear and present danger” to the eurozone and Germany’s Angela Merkel says a new leadership will restore Italy’s credibility. The EU warns Italy may need “extra” austerity measures.
Friday: The Senate approves key reforms aimed at staving off bankruptcy, whose final approval Mr Berlusconi set as a precondition for stepping down. EU President Herman Van Rompuy says Italy “needs reforms, not elections” and Russia’s Vladimir Putin calls Mr Berlusconi “one of the last of the Mohicans”.
Saturday: Mr Berlusconi resigns to loud cheering and cries of “Buffoon!” from a crowd of thousands in Rome, following parliamentary approval of the reforms. In power for 10 of the past 17 years, the 75-year-old Mr Berlusconi says he is “deeply embittered” by the scenes of jubilation at his exit. International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde calls on Italy for “political credibility... crucial to stabilising the situation”.
Sunday: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano names Mr Monti to replace Mr Berlusconi – a decision immediately welcomed by European leaders. Mr Berlusconi meanwhile vows a political comeback, promising to resume the “path to government” and insisting: “I will not give up.”
Monday: Mr Monti tells Italians they face “sacrifices” and asks investors to be patient as he rushes to form a new government – which he says he wants to stay in power until 2013 – the date of the next scheduled elections.
European Commission head José Manuel Barroso calls on Italy for “the necessary political consensus” to reassure investors, after another day of falling stocks and increased borrowing costs for Italy.
Tuesday: The Premier-in-waiting prepares to unveil a new government after a final round of talks with Italy’s main political parties, trade unions and youth and women’s groups amid fierce market pressure for an end to the crisis. Italy’s 10-year bond rate rises above the seven per cent threshold again.