Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire businessman who led Italy from atop several governments between 1994 and 2011, has died aged 86.

Berlusconi, who was caught up in sex scandals and corruption allegations, was one of the most controversial characters in Italian postwar politics.

His Mediaset television network announced his death on its homepage on Monday.

Berlusconi died at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, where he was treated for a lung infection in April connected to a previously undisclosed diagnosis of chronic leukemia.

He had been discharged from the hospital last month after six weeks of treatment but was readmitted on Friday.

The hospital initially said after his readmission that there was no need for alarm and that the former prime minister was there for scheduled medical checks.

It was the last in a string of medical issues that started in 2016 with heart surgery and that included treatment for prostate cancer and several other rounds of hospitalization since he was treated for COVID-19 in 2020.

The Milan-born politician started out selling vacuum cleaners before moving into real estate and then subscriber television. By the 1970s, he had become one of the richest men in Italy.

He entered front-line politics in his 50s and went on to lead the center-right Forza Italia party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — meaning he had influence right up to the end.

However, following September's general election that put Meloni in office, Berlusconi served in Italy's upper house, the Senate.

The Evening Standard newspaper said his death would undoubtedly "destabilize Italian politics in the coming months" and Italian media said there is sure to now be questions about the division of power within Meloni's coalition, and about who will lead Forza Italia.

Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Berlusconi's death had left a "huge void".

"An era is over… Farewell Silvio," he wrote in a tweet.