Will Marina Berlusconi carry on the dynasty?

By Maria Corbi/Turin

She is also the one who puts her children to bed at night. Cinderella, Peter Pan and the birth of the family empire are their bedtime stories. Marina Berlusconi’s zodiac sign is Leo, represented by fire, and the 46-year-old has a temperament to match. She has always supported her father, no questions asked. And right now, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction, the future of the man - and his party - may be in her hands.

Her physical appearance may suggest fragility, but from her 12cm heels she leads the company troops like a general and, according to those who know her, she would revolutionise the party and its recruitment process if she entered politics. The hawks of her father’s Forza Italia party are calling for her to get involved, but that could prove a bitter surprise.

Just ask Rupert Murdoch. Marina was the one who blocked the sale of one of her family’s companies to the media magnate. Or Barbara Berlusconi, Marina’s half-sister from Berlusconi’s second marriage, who wanted to work for Mondadori, Italy’s largest book and magazine company where Marina is chairman. “Today no one’s position is secure, not even the daughter of the boss.”

She asks a lot of herself, and of others. Her education was rather unusual, as was her childhood, much of which was spent under protection because of her father’s political career. She later started, but failed to complete, studies in law and political science. But ultimately she discovered her vocation: business.

When in March 1998 Silvio Berlusconi refused Rupert Murdoch’s offer to buy their TV and entertainment company Mediaset, it became clear that she wasn’t just the daughter of the boss, but in fact a true company leader. “The heart prevailed,” Berlusconi said at the time. Or rather, Marina did. From then on, there was no doubt about her influence.

As soon as she became president of Fininvest, she set about choosing her top managers, opting for people she considered “salaried thinkers”. And they have a very symbiotic relationship with her.

The rumour mill claims that she is taking lessons in politics - and only one man could be her teacher: her father.

Silvio and Marina Berlusconi aren’t just a father and daughter, but also a team. They are bound by ties of affection, obviously, but also of mutual respect. Every cutting remark made about her father also affects Marina. She criticises him too, sometimes savagely, but only in private.

Family comes first for Marina. Her mother Carla Dall’Oglio taught her the art of discretion. She adores and protects her brother, Pier Silvio, with whom she shares the family businesses and the fight to keep control, which is being contested by the children of Silvio’s second wife Veronica Lario - Luigi, Eleonora and Barbara.

Beyond the gossip and questions of succession, Marina actually has an affectionate relationship with her half-siblings. But she has no contact with their mother Veronica. She has few friends.

Forbes calls Marina Berlusconi one of the most powerful businesswomen in the world. By day she wears a trouser suit and a white shirt as she strides through the Fininvest offices. In the evening, she can be found at home cooking dinner for her children and husband Maurizio Vanadia, a former ballet dancer at the famous Scala opera house in Milan who has a sculptured physique and a total veneration for his wife.

It was love at first sight for both of them. Marina told the story of their first meeting to her friend Alfonso Signorini, also director of Chi, a weekly gossip magazine: “I still remember it. He was playing the role of the evil Rothbart in Swan Lake. He was incredibly beautiful. I was leaning so far out of the box to follow him with the binoculars that my mom kept elbowing me: ‘Be careful or you’ll fall out!’”

No one would have bet on Marina being such a success in business, but she proved them wrong. The question is, will she do the same in politics?- Worldcrunch/La Stampa