Italy's Berlusconi leaves hospital after assault

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was discharged from hospital on Thursday, four days after an attack which left him with a fractured nose and broken teeth. Television images showed Berlusconi, with his nose bandaged, waving to reporters from the window of a limousine as he left the Milan hospital where he was taken after Sunday's attack...- 17/12/2009, Europe

Security fails again as intruder walks into Berlusconi's ward

Italian police have arrested a 26-year-old man who tried to reach the hospital room of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, recovering from an attack on Sunday that left him with a fractured nose and broken teeth.- 17/12/2009, Europe

Naples artisans make bloodied Berlusconi figurines

The weekend attack on Silvio Berlusconi has inspired artisans in Naples to create Christmas figurines of the Italian prime minister with a bloodied face.- 17/12/2009, House & Home

Assailant apologises for attack on Berlusconi

The Italian government may rush through emergency measures to outlaw websites inciting hatred following the attack on Silvio Berlusconi, which left the billionaire premier in hospital with a fractured nose and two broken teeth.- 16/12/2009, Europe

Peter Popham: Never mind the useless bodyguards – only politics matters

It became clear soon after Sunday evening's attack on Silvio Berlusconi that his assailant, a 42-year-old graphic designer called Massimo Tartaglia, was not a political activist but a man with serious mental problems. In "a normal country", to employ a phrase beloved of Italian commentators, that would have been the end of the matter. Attention would have- 15/12/2009, Europe

Leading article: Political crowds

Even those who would delight in seeing Silvio Berlusconi humiliated in an Italian election would be appalled by the assault on him at the weekend. By mingling with the crowd in Milan's cathedral square, signing autographs and exchanging remarks, he was doing something which British political leaders, for instance, do all too rarely. Originally, it was th- 15/12/2009, Leading Articles

Berlusconi 'amazed' at attack but rivals blame PM for stoking violence

Silvio Berlusconi yesterday spoke of his amazement that anyone would wish him ill, following the assault on Sunday night that put him in hospital. The Prime Minister, who is being treated for facial wounds after the attack at the end of a political rally, told the priest at Milan's San Raffaele Hospital, Don Luigi Verzè, of his bafflement....- 15/12/2009, Europe

Bloodied but unbowed, Berlusconi insists 'they won't stop me'

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was last night rushed to hospital with his face covered in blood after being attacked at a rally in Milan. The 73-year-old Premier was not seriously injured, but the incident marked a further humiliation in what has been an annus horribilis for the billionaire media mogul, already beset by sex scandals,...- 14/12/2009, Europe

Protester hits Berlusconi at Milan rally

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was punched in the face at the end of a rally today by a man holding a small statue in his hand, leaving the 73-year-old media mogul with a bloodied mouth and looking stunned, police said. The 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi in Milan as he signed autographs was immediately taken into custody. ...- 13/12/2009, Europe

Silvio snubs 'Carmen' for night at movies

It is one of the most glittering evenings in Italy's social calendar – a chance for the birthplace of opera to celebrate the most refined of cultural events. But this week, as the great and the good turned out at La Scala opera house in Milan for the opening of a new version of Carmen, many wondered why the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was not- 10/12/2009, Europe

Berlusconi 'cut deal with Mafia', court told

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, made a deal with the Sicilian Mafia in the early 1990s that put the country "in the hands" of the Mob, a court in Turin was told yesterday. Gaspare Spatuzza, a jailed Mafia hitman turned witness, told a packed and heavily guarded bunker courtroom that his Cosa Nostra Godfather boss had cut ...- 05/12/2009, Europe

Embattled Berlusconi lashes out at reports linking him with the Mafia

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has been forced to make a dramatic denial that he colluded with the Mafia after rumours that have swirled for days about his alleged links with Cosa Nostra chiefs in the early 1990s exploded on to the front pages of Italian newspapers.- 30/11/2009, Europe

Someone wants to kill me, claims Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi's personal, political and legal problems are mounting, leading the Italian Prime Minister's media and political allies to speak of a plot against him and a risk of an early election.- 16/11/2009, Europe

Berlusconi's only fear... Divorce!

Silvio Berlusconi is so far above the law he's practically in orbit. He's not afraid of judges, prosecutors, police, traffic cops, dog wardens or even criminals. There's only one person in Italy who scares him: his wife of 19 years, Miriam Bartolini, better known by her nom d'arte, Veronica Lario. And this weekend, she's preparing to unleash the we- 15/11/2009, Europe

Berlusconi abandons 'casting couch'

The era of fast-tracked careers for pretty faces in Prime Minister's Silvio Berlusconi's TV empire, which led to rumours of a casting couch, could be at an end. Young starlets wanting jobs on the Premier's Mediaset programmes must demonstrate appropriate professional skills and training, according to a stern memo from Berlusconi's son Piersilvio, Mediaset- 12/11/2009, Europe