Berlusconi, the belly dancer and the bunga bunga parties

Much has been written about the ways in which the late Silvio Berlusconi's populist politics reshaped Italian public life, but the ex-prime minister was even better known for his lurid and colourful personal life.

During his lifetime, he had a string of spouses and partners. His second wife, Veronica Lario, divorced him in 2010 after accusing him of lying about his relationship with a teenager.

But chief among the sex scandals that surrounded him was the saga of the notorious "bunga bunga" parties held at his Arcore villa near Milan.

The erotic events came to light in 2010, when Berlusconi personally telephoned a police station seeking the release of a 17-year-old Moroccan girl, Karima El Mahroug, who had been arrested in Milan on suspicion of jewel theft.

The bid to spring her from jail was successful. But in order to secure her freedom, Berlusconi wrongly told the police that she was a granddaughter or niece of Egypt's then-President Hosni Mubarak and her arrest risked a diplomatic incident. He later told the court that he believed that at the time.

It later emerged that the girl was a belly dancer and suspected prostitute who went under the name of Ruby Rubacuori - or in English, Ruby the Heart Stealer.

She claimed to have received $10,000 (£8,000) from Berlusconi at the parties he held.

She told prosecutors in Milan that the events, which resembled orgies, involved Berlusconi and numerous young women stripping off and performing a ritual known as the "bunga bunga".

Many of the women attending the parties were apparently hoping to break into show business by appearing on one of the TV channels owned by Berlusconi.

In the ensuing Rubygate scandal, Berlusconi was initially found guilty of paying Ms Mahroug for sexual services while she was under the age of 18, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.

For her part, Ms Mahroug said she had never worked as a prostitute and denied any sexual relationship with Berlusconi, saying he was just a lonely man who paid to be in the company of young women.

In a biography of Berlusconi published in 2015, the ex-prime minister was quoted as saying the phrase "bunga bunga" originally came from a joke told to him by the Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. The two men enjoyed a close friendship before Gaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011.

Wherever the expression came from, the "bunga bunga" parties proved to be a lasting stain on Berlusconi's reputation. It was not until February 2023 that he was finally cleared of bribing witnesses to lie about the events.

In an Instagram post following that verdict, Berlusconi said his acquittal had ended years of "suffering, of mud and of incalculable political damage".