A half-departure and a turning point at Mediaset. Pier Silvio Berlusconi speaks.

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"Forza Italia going left? That's stupid." The answer comes without hesitation, in that smiling and sometimes definitive tone that Pier Silvio Berlusconi has now perfected. "Forza Italia is a liberal and moderate party, looking to the center-right. It's not because my sister Marina supports civil rights that Forza Italia is now changing direction." Is Marina left-wing and Pier Silvio right-wing? "Marina is a 'little' more progressive than me. I think civil rights are important, yes, they should be defended and expanded, but I also think they're not exactly the country's priority right now. Pensions, healthcare, and lower taxes come first. I don't understand Antonio Tajani's proposal on citizenship, for example. I don't agree with it, both in terms of method and substance." Is Forza Italia an old party? "Not so much in terms of age, but in terms of mentality. It needs new people. A true leader must look beyond his own circle. He must broaden his horizons." What's Giorgia Meloni like? "A young woman who came from nowhere and has built the strongest government in Europe. Hats off to her. Hers is the best government possible."

Dark jeans ("they're my uniform, I've always worn them with my suit"), a blue blazer, a blue Berlusconi-style polka-dotted tie, and a white shirt with a collar so wide his neck swamps ("I've lost nine kilos"), the CEO of Mediaset, the Cav.'s second son, is sitting in the center of a television studio in Cologno Monzese. Mediaset's headquarters. He's just finished presenting his TV's new schedule. He's just had dinner. The journalists approach him, at least those who have conquered sleepiness (it's almost two in the morning). And he, Pier Silvio, with the air of an eternal boy of indefinable age, smiles at everyone, talks to everyone, responds to everything and everyone. After the first five minutes of conversation, he acts with you as if you were an old friend he hasn't seen in a long time. His essential lack of snobbery, one might say, is disarticulated into an excess of (feigned?) frankness. “I don't rule out politics as a future horizon, just as I don't rule out many things in life. I'm fifty-six. My father entered politics at fifty-eight.” So who knows. Then he lowers his voice for a moment: “Politics is a nasty beast. I pretend it doesn't exist. But if I think about it, I go…” And his eyes almost sparkle with enthusiasm. “The idea fills me with passion.”

And he has ideas: "If I entered politics, my program would be lower taxes, higher wages, greater security, and a push for development. And if I really got into it... " There. "If." Exactly. And Forza Italia? Is the party your father founded in 1994 an old one? "Yes, it is, but not so much in terms of age," he replies. "But in terms of mentality," he says. And here his voice becomes more concrete, almost managerial. "It's good to have experienced people, highly capable senators like Gasparri, for example, but we also need new talents. Intakes. Not necessarily young people, but men and women with fresh thinking, new ideas. Every ecosystem, micro or macro, has a moment when, if you don't look beyond experience, you'll crash. I'm doing that, for example, at Mediaset: I hire around 200 young people a year. And you can already feel the momentum."

On his wrist, he wears a gold Rolex Daytona with a blue dial ("It's a gift from Silvia, my partner. I was wondering whether or not to wear it tonight. But in the end, I put it on. I like it; there's no shame in having money earned honestly.") During pauses in his conversation, his hands insistently wander to the bowl of peanuts and more parmesan shavings that a colleague has placed on a small table next to him. "Guys, stop me, I must have eaten a kilo of this." But his hand also frequently lingers on the glass of prosecco, which he empties and refills frequently. "I mustn't overdo it." Then, from a plastic blister pack, Pier Silvio also takes some tablets. It's a "papaya digestive enzyme." In short, Berlusconi eats, drinks, and even smokes ("a real Toscano cigar made in Italy"), but his mind is on the company. “We are a commercial TV station, yes. But I am also a publisher. It's not just about ratings. I feel a responsibility to make good, polite, even useful products if possible.” But at Mediaset there's trash, he is objected. “Sometimes there are bad programs. And when they are there, when I see them, I turn them off.” And Pier Silvio's frankness perhaps lies also in this. It's perhaps surprising to hear a television manager, or rather the owner of television, say that: “The program 'The Couple' with Ilary Blasi was awful. When I saw the first episode I fainted. It lacked the glam, the beauty.” It was trash, he is told. “Trash is something else.” Is Barbara D'Urso trash? “She exaggerated in her repeated pursuit of the extreme story, the strange character.” And that must be why Pier Silvio fired her. Have you read D'Urso's interview with Corriere della Sera, where the host suggests that you, Pier Silvio, are perhaps one of the reasons why he's not yet working at RAI? "No, I haven't read the interview," he replies. And here the Mediaset CEO smiles. Perhaps ironic. Perhaps sarcastic. Perhaps formal. Who knows. A smile that's already political?

Meanwhile, Pier Silvio observes. And admires, when he thinks there's something to admire. Giorgia Meloni , for example. "She's doing a unique job. She's serious, committed, patriotic. A young woman who came from nowhere has put together the most solid government in Europe. She's looking after Italy's interests, speaking to her electorate as a center-right leader." And he adds: "She's rightly moderating herself. She's doing very well. Today, Meloni's government is the best possible." Perhaps Marina, her older sister, the Berlusconi of Fininvest and Mondadori, is a little more lukewarm toward Meloni. But Pier Silvio doesn't say this. He simply says: "It's not that I think everything my sister thinks. We agree on 90 percent of things. But we're also two different people; I feel a little more conservative than she is. I think that before same-sex marriage, which is a good thing, there are more pressing matters that concern all Italians, not a minority." The Berlusconi brothers, however, are in complete agreement about Donald Trump. "Trump scares us. Because tariffs are bad for everyone. For all Italian companies. And therefore also for Mediaset, which depends on the health and trust of Italian companies."

And then, perhaps, both brothers aren't exactly fans of the League. Pier Silvio, for example, says of General Vannacci: "He's a likeable rascal. One who knows exactly where he's going and what he's saying because he sets his sails according to which way the wind blows. I like him. Do I like what he says? No. But it makes me smile." And so, with Marina, they are two different people, but also very much in agreement on political issues. "Ninety percent," he says. And in the Berlusconi family, one might think, there's a remarkable and harmonious family balance. Perhaps the only dynasty in Italian capitalism that hasn't fallen apart amid squabbles. Agnelli, Del Vecchio, Caprotti... The Berlusconis are an exception. "Never fought between brothers. Never argued. We Berlusconis are like that. Serene. Happy with our fortune." The secret? "Silvio Berlusconi. He's the one who kept us together." Then Pier Silvio takes on a witty, almost mischievous tone: “There was only one thing that really interested me in Dad's will: the 1969 Aquarama Riva speedboat. The date of my birth. The one I used to swim in Portofino. Dad and I agreed it was mine. We met with my brothers: they asked me for a symbolic euro and gave it to me.”

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