Mr Berlusconi campaigned tirelessly for right wing coalition candidate Nello Musumeci, who was backed by the controversial former leader’s Forza Italia, the Northern League, and Brothers of Italy.
Now analysts believe Mr Berlusconi may surge back into frontline politics as an insurgent voice of the centre right.
On Monday, the four-time former prime minister’s right-wing bloc relished the huge political victory in regional elections in Sicily. Silvio, as his die-hard adoring acolytes simply call him, was back in the driver’s seat.
“Berlusconi is Alive,” was the headline in La Verita, a right-wing newspaper, on Tuesday.
The mainstream Corriere della Sera ran a cartoon showing Mr Berlusconi, wrapped in a burial shroud, emerging from a tomb like Lazarus in the New Testament.
The regional Sicilian ballot, in which Berlusconi’s candidate won big, was seen as a dry run for nationwide elections due before May.
As the 81-year-old media tycoon campaigned tirelessly for Musumeci, betting that a victory in Sicily would be the springboard for a national return to power of the centre-right, the ex-premier’s sex scandals were no issue.
He went through a very public divorce in 2014 following several sex scandals and he is currently attempting to face off a 2013 tax fraud conviction by calling on the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the ruling, allowing him to run in next year’s elections.
Mr Berlusconi is due to stand trial on charges he bribed witnesses to silence them over accusations he paid for sex with young women. In an earlier, related case, he was acquitted of having sex with one when she was still 17. He denies all wrongdoing.
Anna Foa, an Italian history professor said: “Unfortunately, this is a country where if one violates rules on sexual ethics, he is admired.
“This is a country – and I am sorry to have to say this – where breaking the rules brings votes.”
“Everyone wants to be the one who breaks the rules and gets away with it, and Berlusconi did this in a sphere that people like best – the sexual sphere.”
Mr Berlusconi is due to stand trial on charges he bribed witnesses to keep their silence over accusations he paid for sex with young women.
In an earlier related case, he was acquitted of having sex with a woman when she was still 17. He denies all wrongdoing.
But despite the controversy of his life, experts say Italians feel comfortable with his scandals.
Professor of modern history Giovanni Orsina said: “Berlusconi is like a used car that comes with a guarantee. You know what you are going to get.”
“Even a person who is 81 years old and has gone through all these issues and scandals can seem appealing, not because of his own strength but because of the weaknesses of others.”