Before the gates of Villa San Martino in Arcore, Silvio Berlusconi’s residence on the Milan outskirts, one of the names that was repeated yesterday among the supporters of the late former prime minister was that of Marta Fascina, the 33-year-old deputy who was his last partner, and that he was not separated from him for a minute during his recent hospitalizations. “She is a good girl. More than his wife, you know, she kept him company. He was always a womanizer, but Marta was also a very good person, she could tell that she loved him very much, ”explained a retired woman, excited with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.
The name of Marta Antonia Fascina, born in a Calabrian town in 1990, became known in March 2020 with some images in which she was seen with the tycoon, who was 53 years older than her, in the pages of Diva e Donna magazine. . Some photographs that made public her break with her previous girlfriend, Francesca Pascale, another thirty-year-old, who later married an Italian singer in a civil union and is an activist for LGTBI rights.
Since his notorious –and very expensive– divorce with his second wife, Veronica Lario, Berlusconi had several lovers, but none managed to gain as much influence as Fascina during the last years of his life. So much so that last year they celebrated a bizarre fictitious wedding – Berlusconi called it a “love party” – which had everything necessary to be considered a marriage, except for the obligations of a legal union: the bride dressed in white and with a bouquet, a huge solitaire gift from her fiancé and a three-story cake (as many as the years of love the couple had enjoyed). It was the five children of the telecommunications businessman who stopped him from marrying all the law, worried about the effects that would have on his inheritance.
But little by little, Fascina gained the trust of the Cayman’s children, especially Marina Berlusconi, the tycoon’s eldest daughter and right eye, in charge of looking after his businesses. Berlusconi’s very discreet “widow” took the reins of the Arcore mansion, the family home, with an important role. It was she who managed the information that was sent abroad about the health of the politician, something essential for business stability. She, too, has not escaped eccentricities. As La Stampa recently published, the couple was looking for a bunker to turn into a refuge, convinced of the imminent possibility of nuclear war, and together they drew up a list of people to invite on a plane and escape from this scenario.
In the political sphere, Fascina articulated an internal revolution in Forza Italia that managed to stop the all-powerful senator Licia Ronzulli, who had been a favorite of the Cavaliere in recent years, and place a friend of hers in his position as coordinator of the formation in Lombardy. Although Ronzulli continued as head of the party in the Upper House, her power receded greatly. Ronzulli was a big name. She was behind the fact that the Berlusconi ministers in the Draghi government ended up leaving Forza Italia, and she had also caused some disagreements in the Executive shared with the Brothers of Italy and the League. Fascina’s orbit was less problematic with the government, and therefore approved by Giorgia Meloni, who may now be concerned about the effects that the tycoon’s death could have on the coalition if Berlusconi’s party implodes.
The enigma now is whether the young deputy will maintain this influence with the disappearance of her lover, who already called her his “wife”. The question that the Italian newspapers were asking yesterday was whether Forza Italia will be able to survive Berlusconi. The only thing that is clear is that first there will be a few days of mourning that will freeze the internal wars. The Italian Senate has already announced the suspension of its sessions until next Monday.
