Berlusconi ha cambiato tanto l'Italia, ma per quanto mi riguarda non l’ha cambiata in meglio, soprattutto perché ha sdoganato certi comportamenti nei confronti delle donne, del denaro, del senso delle istituzioni. Berlusconi ha avuto un atteggiamento padronale con tutte le cose al mondo, come le donne, la politica, il potere, il rapporto tra pubblico e privato. Lui ha avuto un rapporto patrimoniale con tutte le cose e con tutte le persone che lo circondavano. E questo per me era inaccettabile.

There is a two-way relationship between the prime minister and the country. Italy couldn't wait for Berlusconi to come along, and Italy is the way it is because Berlusconi is there.

I find it difficult to consider Berlusconi a new man, given that he was one of the closest associates of those who governed Italy in the 1980s. (February 10, 1994)

Every morning I speak to my conscience and the dialogue calms me down. I look at the country, read the newspaper, and think: 'All is becoming a reality little by little, piece by piece'. To be truthful, I should have had the copyright to it. Justice, TV, public order. I wrote about this 30 years ago.... Berlusconi is an extraordinary man, a man of action. This is what Italy needs: not a man of words, but a man of action.

Or Berlusconi, in Italy, right; the envy of the world, Italy, in terms of history, art and culture, 98 different political parties, and they still managed to elect him! He’s so fucking crooked he sleeps on a spiral staircase! So thoroughly corrupt, every time he smiles an angel gets gonorrhoea! He's had so many face-lifts, his face has moved to the top of his head, you have to get on a step-ladder to watch him lie!

(During the Italian crisis, about the proposal of replacing Silvio Berlusconi with Angelino Alfano, as the new Prime Minister of Italy) Replacing Berlusconi with one of his servile lackeys is unacceptable. Italy needs a credible government run by a respected & competent leader (2011-11-08

Clearly, Berlusconi can no longer hold his majority together. It is a whole political phase that is coming to an end, for better or for worse. You see, Berlusconism has always been founded on ‘I am in charge here’. Now, given that the break with Fini is serious and that in the relationship with the Lega it is no longer the Cavaliere who has the ball in his hand, that method no longer works.

Berlusconi speaks with his typical authoritarian mindset. (September 10, 1994)

Dall'inchiesta su Gesù si ha l'impressione che si passi a volte al pettegolezzo su Gesù. Il fenomeno ha però una spiegazione. È sempre esistita la tendenza a rivestire Cristo dei panni della propria epoca o della propria ideologia. In passato, per quanto discutibili, erano cause serie e di grande respiro: il Cristo idealista, socialista, rivoluzionario… La nostra epoca, ossessionata dal sesso, non riesce a pensarlo che alle prese con problemi sentimentali. Io credo che il fatto di aver messo insieme una visione di taglio giornalistico dichiaratamente alternativa con una visione storica anch'essa radicale e minimalista ha portato a un risultato d'insieme inaccettabile, non solo per l'uomo di fede, ma anche per lo storico. A lettura ultimata uno si pone la domanda: come ha fatto Gesù, che non ha portato assolutamente nulla di nuovo rispetto all'ebraismo, che non ha voluto fondare nessuna religione, che non ha fatto nessun miracolo e non è risorto se non nella mente alterata dei suoi seguaci, come ha fatto, ripeto, a diventare "l'uomo che ha cambiato il mondo"?

Silvio Berlusconi entered politics to defend his companies.

(About Matteo Renzi) He is a Berlusconi who didn't make it.

We have a democratic form of leadership: leaders can change. Meanwhile, the Italian right wing has been under Berlusconi's imperishable command for sixteen years. However, I would like to point out that this is their anomaly, not ours. Because Berlusconi, who lost the elections twice, in 1996 and 2006, nevertheless remained at the head of the right wing, something that does not happen in any democratic country. And why has Berlusconi, despite losing two elections, remained at the head of the right for almost twenty years? Because he is its 'owner', not its leader. And so this is a completely different concept. Now, if you think that the center-left should also have an owner, you are mistaken. We are a free association.

Personally, I really like Berlusconi.

But what is stopping meritocracy in Italy? Why has respect for ability and talent, which seems to have developed in the Anglo-Saxon world, not developed here? Giuseppe De Rita blames the education system, particularly state schools, which have levelled everything down, while economist Diorella Kostoris points out that in Italy the dominant idea is to protect those who do not deserve it. Thus, the system guarantees everything to everyone, and the result is that it causes adverse selection, i.e. it penalises the best instead of rewarding them. (p. 169)