'I Told the Truth': Berlusconi's Call Girl

Italian PM denies scandal, says call girls aren't to his taste

(NEWSER) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has denied that he paid prostitutes who attended parties at his official residences, reports the BBC. Berlusconi told a gossip magazine that the call girl who alleged she was paid over $1000 to sleep with him was "extremely well paid" by a political opponent to lie about him to destroy his reputation. He added: "I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest." More»

Turns out El Duche was a douche

(NEWSER) - Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi: Both charismatic leaders of Italy, both wildly popular, both…voracious sexual omnivores. The Independent takes a look at two recent publications—a diary by Mussolini’s mistress, and a memoir by a prostitute who supposedly spent two nights with Berlusconi. A sampling of the salacious details:

• The morning after: Berlusconi offered up coffee or tea and gave a gem-encrusted tortoise as a parting gift; Mussolini’s flings ended without “coffee, liqueur, or even a piece of cake,” writes Clara Petacci in her diary.

'Greatest Italian PM in history' hits back at sex scandal allegations

(NEWSER) - Silvio Berlusconi says he's the best prime minister Italy's ever had and resigning has never crossed his mind, despite a string of sex scandals, the Wall Street Journal reports. Berlusconi scoffed at claims by businessman Giampaolo Tarantini that he invited women to Berlusconi's parties and paid them to sleep with with the prime minister, saying that while he had certainly been at the same events as Tarantini, where there were plenty of attractive women, he'd never paid for sex in his life. More»

Says he gave escorts acting, political roles

(NEWSER) - Patrizia D’Addario, the prostitute who brought the world what she says are audiotapes of her having sex with Silvio Belusconi, says the Italian PM offered her a seat in the European Parliament, the Times of London reports. He offered her the position in lieu of paying for sex, she says, after backing out of a promised building permit favor. Critics lambasted Berlusconi this year for backing several attractive female candidates devoid of political experience. More»

Italian PM shrugs off call-girl scandal as 'low-level stuff'

(NEWSER) - Silvio Berlusconi appeared unconcerned about the recent disclosure of tapes of an alleged intimate conversation between him and a prostitute, the Telegraph reports. “There are a lot of pretty girls about. I am no saint but you know that,” the Italian PM said today in his first public comments on the matter. The “low-level” allegations “don’t touch me,” he told members of his party. More»