Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi, the idiosyncratic billionaire who has dominated much of Italy’s public life since 1994, was elected to a third term as prime minister on April 14, 2008. Rejecting the sober responsibility of the departing prime minister, Romano Prodi, Italians chose in a moment of national self-doubt a man whose dramas — the clowning and corruption scandals, his rocky relations with his wife and political partners, his growing hairline and ever browner hair — play out very much in public. Mr. Berlusconi's charismatic persona -- as much showman as statesman -- has always been a central part of his appeal. And Italians are generally forgiving of personal lives that would topple politicians elsewhere. But a year into his tenure, the prime minister's private life has begun to dominate the national conversation, especially stories involving young women, parties and the official residence. Also, his wife wants a divorce. Mr. Berlusconi, 71, Italy’s third-richest man and owner of media and sports businesses, has survived a number of prosecutions and repeated rejections by voters. But his 2008 campaign was more subdued than his four other runs for national office, a reflection, many experts said, of the deep problems facing Italy, where growth has again dropped nearly to zero. In this election, his promises were more modest — lowering taxes, cutting government spending and improving the nation’s ailing infrastructure — a platform not much different from that of his opponent, Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome and leader of the Democratic Party. Then in May 2009, Mr. Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, took to the front pages to announce that she wanted a divorce and accused him of dallying with very young women. Where Italians had winked at their leader's antics before, this time things turned surreal. First came a rare and inescapable torrent of speculation in the media and at dinner tables about the nature and origins of his relationship with Noemi Letizia, a pretty blond aspiring model whose 18th birthday party he attended in Naples in April. (She said she calls him Daddy.) This was the party that caused Mr. Berlusconi's wife to declare their marriage, one year older than Ms. Letizia, over.

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