Mediasetfree

Ma che bella figura! (parte prima)

Eccovi la prima parte della biografia americana del nostro "premier": con la sua faccia ci presentiamo al mondo. (Se non capite l'inglese prendetevela con la Moratti).
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (born 1936) is one of the most
controversial leaders in the history of a country known for
governmental corruption and vice. Primarily a businessman with massive
holdings and influence in international media, he is regarded by many
as a political dilettante who gained his high office only through use
of his considerable influence on the national media. Hated by many but respected by all at least for his bella figura
(personal style) and the sheer force of his will, Berlusconi has
parlayed his business acumen and influence into a personal empire that
has resulted in Italy's longest; running
government ever and in his becoming the country's wealthiest
man. Bursting onto the scene with no political experience in 1993, he
campaigned;using his vast network of media
holdings;on a promise to purge the notoriously lackadaisical
Italian government of corruption. He won appointment to the office of
prime minister in 1994. However, he and his fellow Forza Italia Party
leaders soon found themselves accused of the very corruption he had
vowed to eradicate. Charges of bribery, extortion, and other abuses of
power trailed the leader until he was forced to resign later in 1994.
Despite convictions on a number of corruption charges that were later
overturned, the suave Berlusconi was again elected prime minister in
2001, and remained in that post as of late 2004. He is owner of one of
the world's most valuable soccer franchises, the
country's biggest private television network, a publishing
conglomerate, assorted department stores and insurance companies, a
newspaper, a magazine, and a bank. His personal monetary worth is
estimated at U.S. $10 billion. Entrepreneurial Streak Apparent Early OnBerlusconi was born on September 29, 1936, in Milan, Italy, the
first of two sons of a middle;class bank clerk and a
housewife. His precocious interest in business matters was matched by
his passion for making money, and even as a boy he was already earning
an income by organizing puppet shows for which he would then charge
admission. While studying law at the University of Milan, Berlusconi
sold vacuum cleaners, worked as a singer on a cruise ship, took
portrait photographs, and did other students; homework for a
fee. He also formed an important friendship with Bettino Craxi, who
would later become Italian prime minister. His graduation thesis from
law school was titled;The Newspaper Advertising
Contract; As soon as he left school, Berlusconi began working in real estate
because he sensed the development boom that was coming in response to
the post;war prosperity of the 1960s. Declining his
father's offer of a job at his bank, the young man managed
to put together enough loans to found two real estate and development
companies: Cantieri Riuniti Silvio Berlusconi Milanesi in 1962 and
Edilnord in 1963. Edilnord won the contract for the development of
Milano Two, an attractive suburb north of Milan for the upper class, in
1969, and in 1974 Berlusconi entered the world of media when he decided
to install a cable television network (through his new Telemilano
company) to service the fashionable bedroom community. Edilnord
developed the chic Milano 3 suburb in 1976, having become the top
developer of residential and commercial properties by that point. Became Media Mogul in 1970s and 1980s Following the Constitutional Court's 1976 ruling that the
Radio Televisione Italiana (RAI) conglomerate could no longer extend to
the local level its legal monopoly over national broadcasting,
Berlusconi launched a massive effort to capitalize on the
legitimization of pirate; television station
operators. He founded a holding company, Fininvest, to manage his
expanding portfolio of interests as 700 commercial stations mushroomed
virtually overnight. Berlusconi worked quickly to create a major
library of films, and then rented them out to the new stations in
exchange for their advertising on his new Pubitalia publishing
subsidiary. By 1980, he was the dominant force in a skyrocketing
television market that over the next five years increased its share of
national advertising from 15 to 50 percent.When the courts ruled later in 1984 that Canele Five had usurped
RAI's state; sanctioned right to broadcast a
national service simultaneously, Berlusconi summoned his old friend
Craxi, who had since become prime minister, to reverse the order. Thus
benefiting from a general move toward deregulation, Berlusconi was
permitted to maintain a virtual duopoly with RAI over the
nation's television market. For the remainder of the 1980s,
he continued to acquire more and more media holdings. One of Berlusconi's key purchases during this period was
of the Milan AC Soccer Club in 1986. A passionate soccer fan, he poured
money into the club until it soon became the most successful Italian
soccer team ever. (With him as chairperson, the team has since won the
Champion's League title four times, the National League
title seven times, and the World Cup Championship twice). He also
bought the popular Standa department store chain in 1988 and, after a
gigantic legal tussle, the Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.P.A. magazine,
book, and newspaper publishing group in 1990. The latter purchase gave
Berlusconi instant control over 20 percent of the Italian publishing
market. His relentless acquisitions also exponentially increased
Fininvest's debt load to dangerous levels, but Berlusconi
had already become a billionaire.
P.S. Da notare come negli altri paesi ci attribuiscano delle espressioni tipiche che qua in Italia non esistono o hanno altro significato (Es. "Bella figura")