Billionaire Berlusconi brought burlesque to Italian politics

FILE PHOTO: Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi looks on during a news conference at Chigi Palace in Rome, Italy, August 4, 2011. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

ROME (Reuters) - Brash, ebullient and a self-made billionaire, four-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was a media mogul and political showman whose financial and sexual scandals made him the most polarising figure in modern Italy.

He died on Monday aged 86, sources said.