Milan’s Malpensa airport – Italy’s second-largest after Rome Fiumicino – has been officially renamed after former premier Silvio Berlusconi, according to a statement from Italy’s transport ministry cited by Italian media.

“Milan Malpensa airport is officially dedicated to the memory of President Silvio Berlusconi with the following name: International Airport Milan Malpensa – ‘Silvio Berlusconi’,” the statement read.

The ministry said the change had been confirmed by civil aviation authority Enac and would take immediate effect, though the airport’s management had yet to change the signs.

Deputy premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, a longtime political ally of Berlusconi, wrote of his “great satisfaction for a great Italian” on Twitter on Thursday after he personally approved the change.

✅ L’aeroporto di Milano Malpensa è ufficialmente intitolato a Silvio Berlusconi.
Grande soddisfazione per un grande italiano. pic.twitter.com/C2QslajUrI

— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) July 11, 2024

The confirmation came after almost a week of protests from opposition politicians, who argued that Berlusconi’s scandal-plagued political career and divisive personal life made the name change inappropriate.

A petition on Change.org had meanwhile attracted more than 120,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon, calling on the government to cancel the plan to name the transport hub after “such a divisive and controversial figure”.

Following the confirmation on Thursday, the opposition Democratic Party (PD) called on Salvini in parliament to “clarify what procedure was followed for the renaming of the Malpensa airport to Silvio Berlusconi” and to explain why laws “requiring a period of 10 years from the death of the person before naming a public place” were “not respected”, Rai reported.

The decision came just over a year after Berlusconi’s death in June 2023, aged 86.

Billionaire Berlusconi had strong ties to Milan but remains a highly divisive figure.

While some Italians view him as a charming, self-made businessman, others slam him as an international embarrassment, particularly due to his many legal woes and sexual scandals.

In 2013, he was sentenced to seven years in jail for paying for sex with a 17-year-old starlet known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer”, though that conviction was later overturned.