Milan’s Malpensa airport to be renamed after Silvio Berlusconi

By CNN Newsource

Published July 8, 2024 3:29 AM

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN

(CNN) — Malpensa, Milan’s biggest airport, and the second-busiest in Italy, will be renamed after the country’s late former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure and transport, announced the change on social media Friday, writing: “Good news: Milan Malpensa airport will be named after Silvio Berlusconi.”

According to Salvini, officials from the Lombardy region where the airport is based put in a request to rename it a year ago. On Friday, the board of directors of the country’s National Civil Aviation Authority approved it.

“The final decision is up to the minister of infrastructure and transport and I am ready to put my final signature, with pride and emotion, in memory of my friend Silvio, a great entrepreneur, a great Milanese and a great Italian,” Salvini said. “He is always with us.”

It is unclear when Malpensa, which offers flights to 180 destinations in 77 countries, will officially be renamed. CNN has reached out to MilanAirports, the company that owns Malpensa, for comment.

Berlusconi, a billionaire who once described himself as the “Jesus Christ of politics,” died in June last year at age 86.

He was elected prime minister three times and served for a total of nine years, longer than anyone since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

A controversial right-wing figure, Berlusconi landed up in court a number of times across his career. He was tried on charges ranging from tax evasion and bribery to corruption and having sex with an underage prostitute. But only one case stuck – a 2012 conviction for tax evasion in a deal involving television rights.

The decision to rename the airport in his honor has met with anger from some Italians.

Pierfrancesco Majorino, leader of Lombardy Council’s Democratic Party, called the decision “profoundly wrong.”

Instead, Majorino suggested renaming the airport after Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, who was killed in Goma in 2021.

“Attanasio did not divide our country,” Majorino said. “He was a servant of the state and an extraordinary Lombardy citizen who brought the best part of Italy to the world. One who wants more peace and justice.”

CNN’s Barbie Latza-Nadeau contributed to this report.