Milan's airport is officially named after former Premier Berlusconi

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It took over two years and some legal wrangling, but Italy’s second-busiest passenger airport was finally named on Friday after the late former Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

The ceremony included the unveiling of a silver plaque at the airport, with Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini and Berlusconi's family members among those attending.

The billionaire media mogul-turned-prime minister had dominated Italian politics for three decades and still casts a long shadow. He was admired by some as a charismatic statesman who put Italy on the world stage but reviled by others as a populist who used political power for personal gain.

Multiple criminal cases had involved Berlusconi, but most ended in dismissals. Investigations targeted the tycoon’s steamy so-called “bunga bunga” parties involving young women and minors, or his businesses. Only one led to a conviction that stuck — a tax fraud case stemming from a sale of movie rights in his business empire, for which he performed community service.

The decision to name the airport for him generated opposition when it was announced in 2024, including from Milan's City Hall, which filed suit to halt the dedication. Three nearby towns in the Lombardy region did the same. They argued that cities, not the civil aviation authority, have the power to bestow names to places, and that law prohibits establishing monuments to people until 10 years after their death.

Berlusconi was born and raised in Milan, where he built his media empire and owned the AC Milan soccer team, and also died in the city in 2023, at the age of 86.

In April, a Lombardy court ruled against the cities, declaring their challenges inadmissible, and clearing the way for dedication of the Milan Malpensa Silvio Berlusconi airport.

Some of Italy’s other big airports are named for historically famous Italians, such as Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, Venice’s Marco Polo airport and Verona’s airport, named for the Latin poet Valerio Catullo.

Malpensa is Italy’s second-busiest, with 31 million passengers passing through last year, compared to the 51 million passengers who transited Rome’s international airport, according to the aviation authority. Its IATA airport code will remain MXP.

Located in Italy’s industrial heartland, Malpensa far exceeds Rome in terms of cargo transport.