In pictures: Berlusconi in politics
- Published
Silvio Berlusconi, who has been expelled from Italy's Senate, has dominated the country's politics since the 1990s. However, the message of this cartoon depicting him as Napoleon, hitched to a cart of half-naked women, is that he was more "Buon Party" (Good Party) than Bonaparte.
In March 1994, at the tender age of 57, he was about to win his first general election, heading a party called Forza Italia (Go Italy) after a chant used by AC Milan football fans.
In December of the same year, he announced the collapse of his coalition government after the far-right Northern League withdrew its support. The long tradition of short-lived Italian governments looked set to continue.
And yet when he was re-elected in 2001, his term became the longest served by any Italian prime minister since World War II. Here he is seen exchanging gifts with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, soon after his re-election.
Italy's prime minister caused some surprise in the West with his foreign policy, which included close relations with Russia. Here he shares a joke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2003.
Mr Berlusconi's battle with his advancing age - here he sports a bandana in 2004, the year he had a hair transplant operation - generated much ridicule in Italy and abroad. He stood for re-election in 2006, narrowly losing to the left.
Back in power after winning the 2008 election with his new People of Freedom party, Mr Berlusconi found himself locked in other battles. There were investigations into his business affairs and growing friction with his wife, Veronica Lario, over his ties with other women.
His relations with a teenage aspiring model, Noemi Letizia (right), drove his wife to leave him in 2009.
His third term in office saw new scandals, often as result of his own gaffes. After the US elected its first black president in 2008, he joked about Barack Obama's "tan". Here Mr Obama's wife Michelle keeps him at arm's length at a meeting in September 2009.
His antics at EU summits, such as these talks with German and French leaders in October 2008, continued to raise eyebrows as a debt crisis took hold in the eurozone.
On a walkabout in Milan in December 2009, he was attacked by a man in a crowd, who hit him in the face with a small statue.
His parliamentary majority was cut in 2010 when he fell out with his coalition ally Gianfranco Fini. Allegations also emerged of sex parties at his home, some involving a teenage belly dancer, Karima "Ruby" El Mahroug (pictured). He was eventually convicted of paying an under-age prostitute and abusing the powers of his office to conceal the affair.
But it was the state of the economy that ultimately undermined his third term in November 2011. His working majority in parliament disappeared as he struggled to pass legislation aimed at reducing Italy's huge national debt, and the 75-year-old announced he would resign.
In August 2013, he issued a defiant video message after Italy's highest court upheld his prison sentence for tax fraud. He accused judges of hounding him over baseless accusations. Because of his age, Mr Berlusconi is expected to serve house arrest or perform community service.
With Berlusconi also facing expulsion from the Senate and a ban on holding public office, the already strained coalition relationship soured - at times paralysing the government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
Mr Letta called a vote of confidence in October 2013, warning that the collapse of the government could be fatal for Italy. He won the vote after a last-minute U-turn by Berlusconi, who had initially vowed to withdraw his party's support.