Attack on PM�s alleged sexual follies and corruption backlashes on opposition
From Philip Willan in Rome

Silvio Berlusconi continues to take centre stage in Italian politics. Last week, the alleged sexual adventures of the ageing, perma-tanned prime minister and controversy over his efforts to wriggle out of his remaining corruption trials were fused into a heady cocktail. But what should have been a moment of unity and euphoria for the opposition left his centre-left critics in disarray and nursing a monumental political hangover.

Matters came to a head on Tuesday when hardline opponents of the government gathered in Rome's central Piazza Navona to blow a political raspberry at Berlusconi.

The focus of their anger were laws currently before parliament that would give immunity to the top four representatives of the state and delay trials where the defendants risk a prison sentence of under 10 years. Both measures were seen as intended to shield Berlusconi from trials now under way in Milan.

A third bill, which would ban the publication of intercepted telephone calls and send journalists who violate the ban to prison, was also seen as serving Berlusconi's interests and threatening freedom of the press.

Opponents say the prime minister is trying to prevent publication of raunchy telephone conversations in which he discusses his sexual dalliances with senior party colleagues and female ministers. Berlusconi is married to Veronica Lario, pictured right, a long-suffering former actress, and has five children from two marriages.

The spicy conversations are said to have been recorded on the orders of Naples magistrates who have been investigating allegations Berlusconi pressured the head of drama at the state broadcaster, RAI, to hire some of his favourite young actresses.

In some cases, the magistrates suspect, the favours were requested on behalf of centre-left senators as an inducement for them to defect from the tottering parliamentary majority of former prime minister Romano Prodi.

Since newspapers reported the existence of the erotic calls, political gossip and internet blogs have been rife with speculation on what they might contain.

One young blogger ran into trouble after he published a conversation purporting to be between Berlusconi and the head of his broadcasting empire. Others have produced evidently fake and humorous versions of the sex tapes.

All of this was grist to the mill of left-wing comedians who appeared on the Piazza Navona stage on Tuesday. TV satirist Sabrina Guzzanti suggested former showgirl Mara Carfagna had only been chosen as equal opportunities minister because of her sexual relationship with the prime minister. Guzzanti said a conversation alluding to sex acts normally associated with the Oval Office of the Clinton White House had been published in the Argentine daily El Clarin. In reality, El Clarin drew a Monica Lewinsky analogy but attributed it to political gossip in Rome rather than actual intercept transcripts in Naples. But Guzzanti's speech and those of several other Berlusconi critics - including the iconoclastic comedian Beppe Grillo - appear to have boomeranged.

Feminists have sprung to Carfagna's defence, saying she has been unfairly attacked just because she is a woman. And other attacks from the podium, on President Giorgio Napolitano, opposition leader Walter Veltroni and even on the pope, have spread dissension and dismay among the government's opponents. Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-graft magistrate who now leads the opposition Italy of Values Party, has refused to disown the Piazza Navona protest although he acknowledged some of the speeches offended against good taste and common sense. Far from embarrassing Berlusconi, the rally appears to have had the effect of embarrassing and dividing his opponents.

On Friday, the weekly magazine L'Espresso added fresh fuel to the fire by revealing the contents of a court case brought against the prime minister by a disgruntled employee of the domestic intelligence agency SISDE. The secret agent claimed he had been victimised at work after Berlusconi began an affair with his wife, TV presenter Virginia Sanjust, in 2003. The agent, Federico Armati, has presented evidence showing Berlusconi hired Sanjust as a communications expert that same year and went on to buy a central Rome apartment for her use, L'Espresso said.

Though the case is expected to be shelved, the magazine said, it raised important questions about "Berlusconi's ability to keep his private life separate from affairs of state". That is the accusation levelled at him by Di Pietro and his party, which has charged Berlusconi with acting as a "pimp" in the RAI actresses affair and of choosing his female ministers on the basis of their comeliness rather their competence.

While the Piazza Navona scandal has certainly damaged the opposition, it seems unlikely to do Berlusconi much harm. Italian voters are generally tolerant of sexual indiscretions and, if anything, are likely to feel admiration and envy for a 71-year old with a hair transplant and heart bypass, still capable of seducing beautiful women - assuming the speculation is true. In any case, the prime minister seemed slightly chastened upon his return from the G8 meeting in Japan. After miming the movements of a samurai during his homecoming press conference, he invited the male journalists present to "go out and enjoy the night".

He, unfortunately, wouldn't be able to do so, he indicated: "At this point I have become a saint."