Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi on Monday said he was “fine” as he was released from hospital almost a week after bowel obstruction surgery.
The 82-year-old was rushed into the San Raffaele hospital near Milan on April 30, forcing him to cancel a campaign event for this month’s European Parliament elections, in which he is standing.
“I’m fine, I’ve had a major scare which made me think I had come at the end of the line, but instead I’ve had an amazing recovery,’’ Berlusconi told newsmen.
He said that he would rest for a few days and resume campaigning coming week.
However, Berlusconi said he would avoid public rallies and would reach out to voters via radio, TV or newspaper interviews.
A scandal-prone politician who was last in government in 2011, Berlusconi said: “I still feel useful for the future of Italians, for the future of Europeans, for the future of the West.’’
Over a three-decade political career, he has been mired in a long list of corruption and sex scandals.
He was until 2018 barred from public office due to a conviction for tax fraud.
Berlusconi remains a combative though marginalised figure after being upstaged by former ally Matteo Salvini as the leading figure of the Italian right.
His health has also failed him in recent years. In 2016, Berlusconi had open-heart surgery to replace a life-threatening faulty aortic valve; in March, he underwent inguinal hernia surgery.
