Milan's airport is officially named after former Premier Berlusconi

It took over two years and some legal wrangling, but Italy’s second-busiest passenger airport was finally named on Friday after the late former Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

The ceremony included the unveiling of a silver plaque at the airport, with Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini and Berlusconi's family members among those attending.

The billionaire media mogul-turned-prime minister had dominated Italian politics for three decades and still casts a long shadow. He was admired by some as a charismatic statesman who put Italy on the world stage but reviled by others as a populist who used political power for personal gain.

Multiple criminal cases had involved Berlusconi, but most ended in dismissals. Investigations targeted the tycoon’s steamy so-called “bunga bunga” parties involving young women and minors, or his businesses. Only one led to a conviction that stuck — a tax fraud case stemming from a sale of movie rights in his business empire, for which he performed community service.

The decision to name the airport for him generated opposition when it was announced in 2024, including from Milan's City Hall, which filed suit to halt the dedication. Three nearby towns in the Lombardy region did the same. They argued that cities, not the civil aviation authority, have the power to bestow names to places, and that law prohibits establishing monuments to people until 10 years after their death.

Berlusconi was born and raised in Milan, where he built his media empire and owned the AC Milan soccer team, and also died in the city in 2023, at the age of 86.

In April, a Lombardy court ruled against the cities, declaring their challenges inadmissible, and clearing the way for dedication of the Milan Malpensa Silvio Berlusconi airport.

Some of Italy’s other big airports are named for historically famous Italians, such as Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, Venice’s Marco Polo airport and Verona’s airport, named for the Latin poet Valerio Catullo.

Malpensa is Italy’s second-busiest, with 31 million passengers passing through last year, compared to the 51 million passengers who transited Rome’s international airport, according to the aviation authority. Its IATA airport code will remain MXP.

Located in Italy’s industrial heartland, Malpensa far exceeds Rome in terms of cargo transport.

Passengers arrive at Italy’s second-busiest airport, Milan Malpensa, that was officially named after the late former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, in Somma Lombardo, Italy, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Marco Ottico/LaPresse via AP)

Italy’s second-busiest airport, Milan Malpensa, is officially named after the late former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, in Somma Lombardo, Italy, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Marco Ottico/LaPresse via AP)

FILE - Silvio Berlusconi, leader of center-right, populist Forza Italia exits a voting booth before casting his ballot at a polling station in Milan, Italy, Sept. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

Italy’s second-busiest airport, Milan Malpensa, is officially named after the late former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, in Somma Lombardo, Italy, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Marco Ottico/LaPresse via AP)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A powerful blast shook the Greek capital’s tourist district of Plaka, near the ancient Acropolis, on Friday morning, causing a building to collapse and injuring at least two people who were rescued from an adjacent building, authorities said.

Rescue crews with a sniffer dog were searching the rubble for potentially missing people, the fire department said. Residents said two people lived in one of the building's apartments, and there were media reports that three tourists may have been staying in a short-term rental apartment also in the building.

The fire department said the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece’s most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged.

Firefighters rescued two women from an adjacent building, with police saying both were being transported to a hospital. Local media and a resident said a passerby was also slightly injured by the blast.

Police cordoned off the area as rescue crews and the sniffer dog moved slowly over the rubble. The fire department said the search and rescue operation was still ongoing several hours after the explosion.

“An elderly couple lived upstairs, on the second floor,” resident Andreas Martzaklis said, adding that he didn't know whether they had been inside at the time of the explosion or managed to get out. He said one apartment in the building that collapsed had been operating as a short-term rental apartment, while the others were privately owned.

“Who got out of the building that is destroyed, we don’t know anything, ” said Martzakis, who lives in a nearby building and heard the blast while he was drinking his morning coffee.

The people rescued by the fire department from the adjacent building were all tourists, Martzaklis added.

The pastor for a nearby church said this Sunday's service would be held outdoors due to damage to the church from the explosion.

“Of course we went in. It was heartbreaking. From the bottom to the top, there is no window that has not been broken,” said Giotis Kantartzis, pastor of the First Greek Evangelical Church in Athens.

Video footage from the scene showed rubble strewn across the street, with parked cars smashed by falling debris.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, but local media said a gas leak was suspected.

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, with the ancient Hadrian's Arch in the background, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, with the ancient Hadrian's Arch in the background, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)