14 DAY TRIAL // Silvio Berlusconi’s wandering eye has again got his wife to publicly scold him via the Italian press. The Prime Minister attended a birthday party for the 18-year-old daughter of a business partner, and did not miss the opportunity of showering her with presents and being overtly courteous, which, in turn, has gotten his wife, Veronica Lario, to write a letter for a press agency, rebuking him for his behavior, the New York Times confirms.
The 72-year-old politician is known for encouraging and actively promoting young, beautiful women in politics, as he also is for occasionally crossing the friendly line. Because of this, Mrs. Lario has scolded him before, also via the media, for forgetting his place and acting like a young man who is foolishly in love, despite having a family, with wife and children, at home. This time, though, she is more upset than ever.
“This surprised me. Because he never attended the 18th birthday parties of his children, even if he was invited.” Mrs. Lario tells ANSA, as quoted by the aforementioned publication, about the recent incident. And Berlusconi’s severe case of wandering eye is truly “shameless,” especially since he seems so intent on picking women for their good looks rather than their resume. “Someone wrote that all this is to sustain the enjoyment of the Emperor. I agree with this – what has emerged is shameful trash, all in the name of power. I want it to be made clear that my children and I are victims of this situation and do not agree with it, we have to put up with it and suffer with it.” Mrs. Lario adds.
As it turns out, Berlusconi attended Noemi Letizia’s birthday party and gave her an impressive gold necklace as a present, together with an autographed photo of himself. Letizia calls him “Papi” (“daddy”) and he thinks of himself as her “little daddy teacher,” it has been revealed. Under these circumstances, it is only understandable why his wife of so many years got raging mad at the whole thing, several Italian media outlets are pointing out. The PM, on his part, is denying all allegations, saying that the entire story simply got twisted in the media and spun out of proportion.
The daily soap opera that is the personal life of Silvio Berlusconi has not failed to capture the attention of the media, albeit it did not affect his following in politics. Quite on the contrary, analysts say, it has shown them that he can be both a good politician and an Italian to the core. “As always, it’s one of those crises that will work in his favor. Everyone would prefer that he be a statesman and cry over the earthquake, but he won’t give this up. [It] is a huge part of Italian society. People identify with it.” Giuliano Ferrara, the editor of Il Foglio, says, as quoted by the NY Times.