This week, Silvio Berlusconi died at the age of 86. He served as Italy’s prime minister three separate times, leaving a permanent mark on the country’s politics, media, and culture. Berlusconi created an empire for himself, based on money, sex and a willingness to push legal limits — and in many ways, he created a template for billionaire populist political leaders. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts On this episode, Alexander Stille, professor of journalism at Columbia University and the author of The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country with a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken Over by a Man named Silvio Berlusconi, discusses how Berlusconi changed Italy and the world.