“The aim is to be in Serie A in 2021,” Galliani said, meaning Monza has to be promoted this season, and speed through Serie B in only a year — and to do it with a squad composed largely of young Italian players, a team that plays a “clean, epic and beautiful type of soccer.” Most of all, though, Berlusconi wants to see one thing in particular. “The dream,” said Cristian Brocchi, Monza’s coach, “is to see Monza play against A.C. Milan at San Siro.”

It is easy to suspect that this is the motivation for Berlusconi’s investment: that this project is about reclaiming his place in Italian soccer’s elite, to prove to his critics that he can do it all again, that he is just as powerful and smart as he used to be, that though he may look like he is finished, he is anything but.

And then, who knows? Perhaps that success might be used to continue the resurrection of his political career, especially after he was elected to the European Parliament last year. That, certainly, would fit Berlusconi’s playbook. A.C. Milan was always more than a toy, a trophy asset, in his eyes: He did not bankroll the club to five European Cups and eight Italian championships as an end in itself; he did it, at least in part, in pursuit of real power.

It was no coincidence that when Berlusconi formed his political party in 1993, he borrowed its name from soccer’s lexicon: “Forza Italia!” The label echoed a terrace chant, a deliberate attempt to leverage Milan’s success in the minds of voters. It worked.