ROME: Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister who reshaped Italy’s political and cultural landscape while fending off multiple legal and sex scandals, died Monday aged 86.

The billionaire media mogul was admitted to a Milan hospital on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to leukaemia.

His admission came just three weeks after he was discharged following a six-week stay at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, during which time doctors revealed he had a rare type of blood cancer.