About Silvio Berlusconi, who as of today officially enters among the great personalities of post-war Italian history, one of the few to have been a protagonist of the two millennia, in these hours people are already remembering the figure and rehashing all the good and the less good that can be said about him. We 'Italians in Kenya' can add a memory of the Malindian Berlusconi, given that he spent a holiday here, which he described as 'essential' to recovering from the fatigues of politics, from his first aches and pains and from the prodromes of the tunnel of trials and judicial overhangs that would soon shake him up.
Berlusconi arrived in Malindi as a guest of Flavio Briatore, on 10 September 2012. He arrived in his private jet, escorted by four bodyguards and in the company of his psychologist (or if you prefer, mental coach).
The former Prime Minister stayed a week as a guest of the Piedmontese tycoon at the exclusive 'Lion in the Sun' retreat, taking advantage of the relaxation and therapies at the Casuarina spa.
I wrote at the time, in one of the most-read articles ever on our portal: 'according to well-informed rumours, his wish is to lose weight and regain 'the right tone' in just one week, taking advantage of the Kenyan nature and his friendship with the national Flavio. Surely an excursion on board the speedboat 'Kaliffa' to the islets of Mayungu, which everyone now calls 'Sardinia 2', will not be missing from his agenda. It is also likely that Briatore will propose to Berlusconi the purchase of one of the suites of the Billionaire resort that is being built on the beach of the Malindi marine park. Already a number of Italian jet set and show business personalities have bought one of the luxurious flats. Will it be Silvio's turn?"
I didn't manage to meet him, because by chance I was in Italy presenting a book on Malindi, but the photo that one of our collaborators took on Silversand beach went around the world.

In reality Berlusconi, at least personally or in the light of day, never invested in Kenya and Malindi.
The following year there was talk of him again, because overwhelmed by scandals and possible final convictions, his possible solution 'in exile' in the manner of his dear friend Bettino Craxi was considered. For him, however, the media proposed Malindi, instead of the Tunisian Hammamet of the former president and former socialist.

Silvio himself announced that he would soon return to that place of affluence, should he decide to drop his candidacy and leave politics for good. Malindi had somehow remained in his heart, like a less worldly Sardinia and for the first time far from that world that, as a rampant entrepreneur in the early 1980s, he had compulsively begun to embrace. After all, in some ways, Italian Malindi has always resembled him, because it was born as a tourist destination precisely in the years when hedonism, the cult of money, appearances and 'drinking' cities were making their way. Years of lightness, of fun, but also where, as Lucio Dalla sang, 'without great disturbance, someone will disappear, it will perhaps be the too clever and the cretins of all ages'. Malindi was a place to disappear, Italy a place to stay especially to be with Berlusconi and his philosophy. Then Tangentopoli came along and the rest is history we know by heart, including that of the decline of Berlusca and Malindi, once again ironically at arm's length. 

Later, his temper and egocentricity would get the better of him as always, and he would throw himself back into the electoral tussle, returning to the helm of Forza Italia.
And Malindi, which however thanks to him had returned to the headlines, albeit not always in a positive way, returned to the media and TV magazines.

As I wrote in an article at the time: 'In the meantime Malindi rises to the honour of the chronicles, and all Italians who work well and dedicate themselves to their activities with passion, hope to have, thanks to the former premier, that notoriety that is often denied for much more noble reasons. Berlusconi is in Malindi, long live Berlusconi!".