Usually tolerant Italy reels from sex scandal

updated 1:43 p.m. ET June 3, 2009

ROME - Just weeks ago Silvio Berlusconi appeared to have an ironclad grip on power. Now the Italian premier is looking suddenly vulnerable, with the heat coming from something almost unheard of in freewheeling Italy: a sex scandal.

Opposition politicians and newspapers kept up the pressure Wednesday on Berlusconi, who has spent most of the past month defending himself against accusations from his wife that he had an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old model.

In the latest fallout from the scandal, Berlusconi has come under attack over his explanations for using a government airplane to fly friends, entertainers and starlets for parties at his vacation villa in Sardinia. The opposition charged Wednesday that Berlusconi has nearly tripled the use of government flights from the previous leftist administration.

The premier's office felt obliged this week to deny any misuse of a state airplane to fly friends to Sardinia after a consumer group complained — it said the added passengers did not increase costs.

But Berlusconi appears to be losing his Teflon touch amid the growing public relations disaster: newspapers published photos this week of people disembarking from the government plane, identifying one young woman as a flamenco dancer and a man as a Neapolitan crooner.

Out of sorts
The scandal is clearly getting to the usually ebullient premier.

As he arrived at the presidential palace this week for a national day reception, Berlusconi looked decidedly out of sorts as jeers mingled with cheers among the gawkers waiting outside.

"Scoundrel!" shouted one man as Berlusconi entered the Renaissance-era palazzo. Inside, the 72-year-old media baron just smiled wanly and mumbled "Okay" when a reporter asked how he was doing.

Italians have long winked at the peccadilloes of their political leaders, taking it almost for granted that men in power would have the occasional fling and surround themselves with beautiful women.

Surprising hubbub in tolerant Italy
The uproar is all the more surprising because of Italians' tolerant attitudes to sex and their respect for the private lives of politicians.

Italians were mystified that Bill Clinton's dalliance with a White House intern could produce such scandal, blaming it on a hypocritical American puritanism and assuring it couldn't happen here.

But a combination of factors — sympathy for a spurned wife, Berlusconi's ongoing legal problems and upcoming European Parliament elections that energized an otherwise weak opposition — has kept the saga going. The Italian press has not shied from the story, led by the left-leaning La Repubblica, which Berlusconi's estranged used to attack her husband.

The premier felt obliged to appear on national television to reject his wife's suggestions that he had a sexual relationship with 18-year-old glamour girl Noemi Letizia, calling it a "lie" and demanding she apologize.

Berlusconi, known for his colorful quotes and frequent gaffes, in the past has confounded his critics and political opponents, winning a landslide election victory last year despite corruption charges still hanging over his head.

But the latest scandal comes as a big embarrassment and a potential political blow, coming ahead of this week's European elections and Berlusconi's hosting of U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in July.

"Americans had been made fun of by many Italians who described them as being puritans or exaggeratedly interested in the private life of their president," said Aldo Grasso, leading social commentator.

"But now, and always for political reasons, we are making the same mistakes."

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