The Rise and Fall and Rise of Silvio Berlusconi

Rocco Buttiglione puffs on his toscano cigar and recalls the first time he ever met Silvio Berlusconi. "It was in 1978," says the philosophy professor and leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union. "He was just moving into the TV business and thought he had to learn more about Italian society and politics. So he asked me to give him some classes on democracy and government. His approach surprised me, but it is the very image of Berlusconi — he is a man capable of learning and eager to learn."

Since the billionaire business mogul first jumped...