Berlusconi Urged to Attend Clinic for Sex Addiction
THE SUNDAY TIMES: MEMBERS of Silvio Berlusconi’s entourage are urging the prime minister to seek treatment in a clinic for sex addiction.

The 72-year-old billionaire’s private life has been the focus of a long-running scandal since he attended the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia in April.

His wife, Veronica Lario, 53, has demanded a divorce and Patrizia D’Addario, a prostitute, has said she spent a night at Berlusconi’s Rome residence last November — which he has denied. >>> John Follain, Rome | Sunday, August 23, 2009

Berlusconi Can't Rein In the Foreign Press
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: It's the Silvio and Noemi show – who's interested in Fiat now?

Silvio Berlusconi with his wife Veronica Lario, who has filed for divorce. Photo courtesy of The Independent
To say that Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, would like to control the Italian media, and to a large extent actually does, is hardly news. But last week saw him trying to rein in the foreign press too, and finding it rather more difficult.

The offending story is his relationship with an aspiring model from the Neapolitan hinterland, Noemi Letizia, and his mental health. A month ago, Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, dropped a bombshell when she attacked her husband for making pretty showgirls into candidates for the European elections next week; she followed up a day later by saying that he also "consorted with underage girls" and "is not well". She said that he had gone to an 18-year-old's birthday party (Letizia's) when he hadn't even shown up for his children's 18th birthdays.

Since then, Italy and much of the rest of the world have been trying to work out what exactly was going on between Berlusconi and Letizia. Berlusconi is a media magnate who owns three of Italy's national TV channels and, as prime minister, has a dominant influence over the public broadcaster, RAI. He and his family own a couple of daily papers, one of the two main news weeklies and the country's biggest book publisher, Mondadori. He has been an active politician since 1994 and on the fringes since the 1960s. Despite this experience, his media management over the past month has been comically amateur. >>> By James Walston | Sunday, May 31, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Silvio Berlusconi Blocks Publication of Bikini-girls Photographs

Silvio Berlusconi has blocked the publication of potentially embarrassing photographs said to include images of young bikini-clad and topless girls at his villa in Sardinia.

Police seized hundreds of photographs, which are believed to feature Mirek Topolánek, the former Czech Prime Minister, in the nude, after the media tycoon claimed that they constituted an invasion of privacy.

Some of the pictures were taken on New Year’s Eve, when Noemi Letizia, 18, was among the guests. Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi’s wife, announced more than a month ago that she will be divorcing him, partly because she could not “stay with a man who consorts with minors”. >>> Lucy Bannerman and Richard Owen | Monday, June 01, 2009