Brushing aside complaints about a recent alleged sexist remark made to a female opposition leader and a perceived snub of Jordan’s King Abdullah, Berlusconi warned the phenomenon of judges wearing pastel-colored socks in public required special attention.

A camera crew working for a Berlusconi-owned television channel recently recorded street movements by Judge Raimondo Mesiano, showing him walking, smoking, and visiting a Rome barbershop.

http://www.france24.com/en/20091018-outrage-after-berlusconi-media-shadow-turquoise-socks-judge-mesiano-italy-fininvest

The filming  of Mesiano’s movements came after the judge ordered Berlusconi’s holding company to pay 750 million euros to a rival media operator in a bribery case, and after Italy’s constitutional court stripped Berlusconi of immunity from prosecution in pending fraud and corruption cases.

At a news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he was visiting Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Berlusconi repeated comments made by the narrator of the Canale 5 probe of the judge.

The judge is “strange,” walking on a street in turquoise socks, “seeming to be interested in a shave while smoking the umpteenth cigarette of the day,” the prime minister said as Putin stood by.  “He must be eccentric and can only relax in such silly socks near a barber shop.”

“I’m troubled that this is more than just a fashion trend,” Berlusconi went on.

“A judge could cause great damage, possibly even a breakdown in our fragile legal system by being a role model for colleagues who might want to wear such colorful clothing as an everyday thing,” he said.  “Italy’s judges, like all judges in advanced democracies, should be models of restraint; they should dress in blacks, whites, and grays.”

Putin, anxious to enjoy his October 7th birthday party with the Italian leader, seemed puzzled by Berlusconi’s comments about turquoise socks and judges.  Putin, 57, turned to a translator for help as Berlusconi went on about the judge’s smoking habits and choice of a barber.  The translator cautioned reporters there might not be a word for turquoise in Russian.

Still, Berlusconi, 73, seemed to be enjoying himself with Putin, despite criticism for canceling a meeting in Rome with King Abdullah in order to be in St. Petersburg.

Berlusconi also seemed unconcerned about a recent protest by 100,000 Italian women over what they charge was a public insult against a female opposition leader, made on live television.

On a recent late night talk show, Berlusconi appeared via phone link and told Rosy Bindi, 58, that she was “more beautiful than intelligent.”  To which Bindi, a bespectacled, matronly figure, responded:  “I am not a woman at your disposal.”

As he often has, Berlusconi said his remark to Bindi was a joke;  but many women insisted it was another example of how the prime minister offends them, whatever his stated intent.

“Someone tell Berlusconi he is no George Clooney, ” said Senator Patrizia Bugnano.

In St. Petersburg, Berlusconi insisted any offense against Bindi, or large numbers of Italian women, was outweighed by the implications of Judge Mesiano’s socks.

“Where’s the outrage about that”?  he asked.  “Our republic is threatened every day by such florid footwear.  That’s clear by what my camera crews saw!”

Meanwhile, Berlusconi critics took issue with his rationale for leaving King Abdullah in the lurch, on the grounds that, while there would be a big birthday party held for Putin, and possibly some hunting, the leaders would discuss Moscow’s plans to build more pipelines to Europe, and a possible Russian-Italian joint venture to pipe Russian gas under the Black Sea to central and southern Europe.

Rumors of drinking, partying, and lots of dancing girls dominated talk about the real purpose of the Berlusconi visit to Russia, with hints that Putin wished to pay Berlusconi back for his 2007 party to honor Putin, which was held at Berlusconi’s Sardinia island retreat.  That event featured a troupe of dancing girls from Rome, in a command performance of “Dance of the Veils”.

As he acknowledged that all of his special guests, including Putin,  revel in the Sardinian sun, often in light shorts or swim suits, Berlusconi demurred when asked if he would accept Putin’s invitation to ride shirtless and bareback while hunting in the St. Petersburg suburbs.  “You will understand: it’s a bit cool here for me,” he said.

“This is all very strange,” Emma Bonino, a former EU commissioner and senator for Italy’s Radical Party said.  “The idea that they are going to hunt deer and talk about gas for three days seems hardly probable.”

As for King Abdullah, he seemed nonplussed about the whole matter, including the perceived slight.

“His highness understands the prime minister of Italy is a busy, busy man, with many heavy responsibilities in the region.  Perhaps his highness could also visit Sardinia some day.  His highness looks forward to a special sunny afternoon and dusk in the near future, where he can sit on a lawn chair overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and enjoy Mr. Berlusconi’s unique hospitality.  For now though, we wish the prime minister well, but hasten to add:  no one wears turquoise socks in Jordan” -  said a statement issued on behalf of the king.

Berlusconi’s insistence on the import of the socks issue is generating a response among members of Italy’s judiciary.  There is talk of a “turquoise socks protest,” and deep concern about what one Democratic Party senator called a “horrible television movie.”

“The worst thing -  which gives you the shivers – is the shadowing, the spying, the violation of privacy, the public pillorying, with the implied warning:  look, we’re watching you,” wrote Michele Brambilla recently in La Stampa.  It’s something “we’ve seen only in the movies,” Brambilla said.

Berlusconi, insisting he is the most criticized and put-upon leader in modern Italian history, dismissed all comments about his trip to Russia; alleged serial insults to women, including his wife; the alleged snub to the Jordanian monarch; and his comments about Judge Mesiano as more leftist propaganda.

“I say think socks!  Socks!  Socks!”  Belusconi said.  “The left doesn’t want you to think about this judge’s funny blue socks, and what they represent, because they all wear sandals!  Don’t be fooled!  The left never wear socks!!!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn4qkD_1WH4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XDWfgn0rSo

http://www.france24.com/en/20091003-mass-demonstration-rome-defend-press-freedom-protest-italy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ojXKbYFnus

CHNN’s Harlan Harrington has been hop-scotching around Italy in the CHNN flying boat – from Rome to Naples to Sardinia and Milan – trying to stay abreast of these breathless developments.

Harrington reports allegations made by 23-year old Barbara Montereale may crack the facade of denial by Berlusconi on questions about his relationships with many young Italian women, some of whom he has promoted as viable political candidates.

Montereale, described in news reports as a “beautiful, ambitious starlet,” last week told Italian reporters she met Berlusconi at his Rome apartment in November.  She said she also spent a January night with the prime minister at his Sardinia retreat;  and on the way out at sunrise, she said she was given a bag stuffed with 1,000 Euros.

Montereale denied having sex with Berlusconi in Sardinia but conceded she may have accepted other payments for what were called “hostessing” duties.

Italian officials are looking into allegations of abetting prostitution in connection with activities at the Berlusconi vacation retreat.

Montereale says she traveled to Sardinia with Patrizia D’Addario, a 42-year old former escort and model.

D’Addario said she has pictures showing herself in the prime minister’s Rome residence last November, adding that she turned the material over to police.

Montereale said D’Addario told her she had sex with Berlusconi on the night of Barack Obama’s election as U.S. president, even though the prime minister was scheduled to attend a election night rally.

An Italian newspaper last week published excerpts from D’Addario’s tapes, purporting to show the prime minister urging the woman to “Go and wait for me on the big bed” -  to which D’Addario replied, “Yes, the big bed.”  While there, D’Addario alleged, Berlusconi, reclining in a bathrobe, gave her a diamond-encrusted tortoise, and said, “The tortoise is a special gift I give only to you.”

D’Addario said she went public with her story, in part because the prime minister falsely promised to help her with a hotel she wanted to build.

Harrington says Berlusconi and his aides are responding to these latest allegations at near operatic pitch.

Harrington says recent media appearances by the 72-year old Italian leader have assumed an aggressive, even hysterical tone, in an effort to debunk all stories about his relationships with young women.  A few weeks ago, Berlusconi’s wife, 42-year old Veronica Lario, said she intended to file for divorce.

Harrington reports the prime minister, mopping his tanned brow and hair-plugged pate in the summer sun, said last week, “I’ll not be swayed by these attacks and will continue to work for the good of the country.”  The fresh claims made by women coming forward are “trash and falsehoods,” he said,

“We have no comment; we have nothing to say,” Marco Ventura, a Berlusconi aide,  said Saturday.

Late last week, Harrington left an interview with investigators in Sardinia, flying hurriedly in the CHNN news craft and landing near a rented slip in Genoa harbor, then rushing in a dusty, beat up Fiat taxi to another Berlusconi media event in Milan.

Harrington says Berlusconi denied rumors that he might resign and have a governor of the Bank of Italy head an interim regime.

At a political rally, Berlusconi took on hecklers, shouting, “You disgust me and repel me.  But you communists without dignity will never bring me down.”

Yet at another appearance on Friday, Berlusconi tried to banter his way around reporters’ questions.  One female reporter, whose sweater had slipped a bit from her shoulder was told, “Are you trying to get invited to one of my dinners?  I used to do one a month; now I need to organize three or four a week.”

A few weeks ago, at the end of the EU leaders’ summit, Berlusconi commented on his situation, “It’s all rubbish.  I already got rid of the rubbish in Naples and I’ll do the same with this.”

But Berlusconi’s political opponents are also sharpening their attacks.

“Either Berlusconi explains what happened or he must go,” Rosy Bindi, deputy house speaker, said last week.

Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the Italy of Principles party called for a no-confidence vote in parliament.  Di Pietro cast  Berlusconi as a modern-day Nero and said he has been exposed to blackmail because of his “weakness” for women.

In Rome, Berlusconi’s lawyer, Nicolo Ghedini, steered around the Nero reference, rolling his eyes at reporters as they waited in his marbled lobby.

Ghedini addressed the allegations of prostitution and said his client was “rich in money and likeability” and didn’t have to pay women to come to his house.  “I think he can have great quantities for free,” Ghedini said, adding that even if the allegations were true, Berlusconi was only an “unwitting subject,” an “end user, and so not punishable.”  Ghedini suggested some of Berlusconi’s male guests bore responsibility for the presence of other unexpected or unannounced persons at the prime minister’s residences.

With all the frenzied reporting on the Berlusconi story, including the intense, gripping, fact-filled dispatches filed by CHNN’s chief world correspondent, it’s still not known how many women have been involved with the prime minister.

Harrington – unused as he is to women in sunglasses and slitted skirts waving at him as he buzzes over Italian villages in the CHNN flying boat, or to busty matrons offering juicy anecdotes from ancient balconies in  bustling cities – says the estimates are wildly unreliable.  But, he says, everywhere he goes people are talking.  Harrington says there is no choice but to press on.

Some women caught in the maw of the Berlusconi story seem to have been shunted aside.  Still others may have chosen to step away from the spotlight.

Noemi Letizia, the 18-year old Naples resident mentioned as a favorite of the prime minister, is said to be irked at the sudden attention paid to older woman who’ve been linked to Berlusconi.  Friends of Letizia say she’s in seclusion, practicing her karaoke routine, and preparing for lucrative modeling assignments in Rome – which she has told friends she was promised by Berlusconi.

Another woman linked to Berlusconi, Sabina Began, has reportedly “gone to ground” in recent weeks.  Began, known to observers of the Berlusconi social scene as the “queen bee,” was well known as a regular organizer of the prime minister’s parties in Rome and Sardinia.

Next month Berlusconi will host the G-8 summit in the Italian town of L’Aquila.  President Obama is scheduled to attend.