The 86-year-old billionaire media tycoon has been readmitted after being discharged from hospital last month where he was treated for a lung infection linked to chronic leukaemia.

Berlusconi's health has markedly deteriorated in recent years, with open-heart surgery in 2016 and numerous hospital admissions since contracting COVID-19 three years ago.

He led the country three times from 1994-1995, 2001-2006 and 2008-2011.

In his last term in office Italy came close to a Greece-style debt crisis and he faced numerous scandals, most notably around his notorious "bunga bunga" parties.

Although he does not have a direct role in government, his Forza Italia party is a member of Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition.

He returned to the Senate at a general election last September, nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction.