Berlusconi's macho image helps him win elections

One would think Silvio Berlusconi's wife's decision to leave him has put the Italian prime minister in a tight spot only weeks before the European elections.  But our Italian Observer Alberto Celani says that the criticism is actually helping reinforce his "compassionate" and "macho" image.

The cover of the Italian magazine Oggi reads: "Berlusconi's harem". The photos of Berlusconi's villa were taken with a zoom lens. The Italian premier sued the magazine and said that he was with "friends".

Veronica Lario did not appreciate her husband's decision to add beautiful but politically inexperienced women to his party list for the European elections, but once again she swallowed the bitter pill.

But when Berlusconi attended an 18-year-old female friend's birthday, it was the last straw for Italy's First Lady.

In turn, the not-so-chivalrous Cavaliere demanded an apology from his wife, accusing her of "playing a joke on him in the middle of an electoral campaign" — for the third time.

One of Berlusconi's "showgirls"

Silvio Berlusconi wanted to add a number of pretty young women to his People of Freedom party list of candidates for the European elections. In the end, he decided to keep only three of his veline, or showgirls, as Italians refer to them.

Lara Comi, seen in this video, is one of the three "ordinary" women recruited by the rich and macho media tycoon. These images have been circulating on the Italian Web. Internet users mock the amateurishness of this unknown candidate and her desperate attempt to prove her electoral credibility.

Posted on YouTube by matteocribiu.

Lara Comi posted this video online during the parliamentary elections a year ago.

The future candidate introduces herself as if she's in a job interview. She explains that she is "zodiac", reads Joyce and adores "Adel Smith" (Adel Smith?).

"For many Italians, his infidelities make him a 'figo'"

Alberto Celani, 31, is one of our Observers in Milan.

I wonder if this whole story about Berlusconi's divorce is something he orchestrated himself.

He's always prepared to face any situation and knows well that the media's focus on his personal life helps his popularity. For many Italians, his infidelities make him a figo, a compassionate and macho hunk.

They admire his style much more than Prodi's, whose wife is old and not as beautiful. People say "Prodi could never have women like Berlusconi does."

Marriage according to "il Cavaliere"

Posted on Flickr by Roberto Rizzato.