36 1GM Friday March 6 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
Silvio Berlusconi has ended his decade-
long relationship with a woman 49 years
his junior after he was pictured leaving a
Swiss hotel with a younger woman, an MP
in his party.
The former Italian prime minister, 83,
said he was no longer involved with Fran-
cesca Pascale, 34, but that they still
enjoyed a “true, affectionate and deep
friendship”. That appeared to be news to
Berlusconi leaves lover,
34, for younger woman
Ms Pascale, who said that she was
“shocked” by the announcement, but
wished him well. “I hope he can find a per-
son who can look after him as well as I did,”
she said.
He was photographed with Marta Fasci-
na, 30, a little known Forza Italia MP.
Mr Berlusconi’s romantic exploits filled
pages of Italian newspapers, providing a
distraction to the coronavirus outbreak and
reminding Italians of the years in which his
“bunga bunga” parties dominated the
headlines. He was acquitted in court afterItaly
Tom Kington Rome
being accused of paying the
17-year-old dancer Kari-
ma El Mahroug, known
as Ruby the Heart-
stealer, for sex but is
still on trial for brib-
ing female guests to
lie in court about his
parties, which alle-
gedly involved top-
less pole dancing.His preference for the company of
younger women drove Mr Berlusconi’s
wife to leave him in 2009, two years before
he resigned as prime minister amid sex
scandals and tax investigations.
Ms Pascale won the affections of the
newly single Mr Berlusconi at the time and
publicly expressed her desire to marry him
but was denied a wedding. Nevertheless,
she stuck with him through his years in
opposition and his community service
after a tax fraud conviction. She moved
into a house that Mr Berlusconi bought for
her near his villa outside Milan and en-
couraged him to take care of Dudu, her
white Maltese terrier.
Dudu appeared to encourage a love of
animals in Mr Berlusconi, who was photo-
graphed feeding, caressing and kissing a
young lamb in 2017 as he targeted the
votes of elderly pet owners.
Tension surfaced between the two
in December when she backed the
Sardines, a grassroots Italian move-
ment opposed to Matteo Salvini, a pol-
itical ally of Mr Berlusconi.
Then, this year, she admitted that Ms
Fascina was spending a lot of time hold-
ing political consultations with him at
his villa. That was followed by the publi-
cation in a gossip magazine of the pho-
tos of Mr Berlusconi and Ms Fascina
leaving a Swiss resort. Perhaps worst
of all for Ms Pascale, the couple
were walking Dudu. “It amuses me
to see a member of parliament take
my dog for a walk. But that’s fine by
me,” Ms Pascale said.The former Italian PM had
been with Francesca Pascale
for a decade before he met
Marta Fascina, rightALAMY