Word: berlusconi
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...there a link between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's hold on political power inside Italy and his hold over the wider scandal-craved collective imagination of our contemporary culture? Clues to that question may be found in a series of blurry photographs that have wound up on the front page of the respected Spanish daily...
...five photos show scenes of poolside nudity and seminudity inside the walls of the Prime Minister's private villa on the island of Sardinia, as well as images of a (fully clothed) Berlusconi walking in the company of several different women. Though all faces but the 72-year-old leader's are pixelated, the images in themselves show nothing scandalous; the scenes are no different from those one might see in countless other private villas around the Mediterranean. (See Berlusconi's worst gaffes...
...Spain's top paper and is now making an Internet world tour. The Italian PM has endured weeks of public and media speculation over his private life following his wife's decision to file for divorce, saying she could no longer stay married to someone who "frequents underage females." Berlusconi has vigorously denied the accusation, though he has left unanswered key specific questions about the nature of his relationship with a Neapolitan blonde who recently turned 18. (See pictures of future Berlusconi appointees at LIFE.com...
...Italian papers have reported that the teenager, Noemi Letizia, whom Berlusconi said he saw only in the company of her parents, was among a contingent of young women invited for a New Year's Eve party at the Sardinia villa. Last week, news arrived of a series of potentially compromising long-range photos of the inside of the villa taken by veteran photographer Antonello Zappadu, who two years ago photographed the Prime Minister surrounded by young women at Berlusconi's Sardinia estate, known as Villa Certosa...
...Last week, Berlusconi's lawyers succeeded in blocking publication of the photographs in Italy, arguing before a judge that publication of the photographs would constitute an invasion of privacy. That's where El País stepped in. The Spanish daily is one of several European newspapers - citing the control the PM has over large swaths of the Italian media - trying to keep the heat on Berlusconi. Giovanni De Mauro, editor of the Rome-based Internazionale weekly, says El País' decision to publish the photos is similar to British papers' printing of the details of parliamentary expenditures...