Milan's Malpensa Is Renamed for Berlusconi, and the Critics Object

The Local Italy reported on Friday that Milan's Malpensa airport was officially renamed after Silvio Berlusconi in a ceremony, honouring the former prime minister and billionaire. The outlet noted that the move drew criticism from politicians at both local and national level.

Malpensa is the principal intercontinental gateway for Lombardy and, by extension, for much of northern Italy. For the Veneto it is one of the two airports — the other being Venice Marco Polo — through which the region's exporters, its tourism trade and its business travellers reach the wider world. A change of name at that scale is not a private gesture; it is a piece of national branding attached to infrastructure that foreign carriers, freight forwarders and travel agents book by name.