The Italian prime minister and his wife agree the terms of their legal separation, writes PADDY AGNEWin Rome
AUSTRALIAN POET John Leonard apparently once observed that “the rich are different from you and me because they have more credit”.
If Leonard had been referring to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, he might have added that not only do they have more credit, they also have a lot more real estate.
When Berlusconi, his wife Veronica Lario and lawyers met for a five-hour session in Milan last weekend, real estate was very much at the top of the agenda.
In particular, much attention was focused on Villa Belvedere Visconti Di Modrone, a rather splendid 19th century “pile” situated in acres of parkland not far from Milan which for two decades now has been Mrs B’s very own little hideaway. (This is just one of a dozen luxury Berlusconi residences in Italy, Paris, London and Bermuda).
The point is, of course, that the Berlusconis are getting a divorce. Remember this time last year when Mrs B shocked the world by announcing that she could no longer live with a man who “frequents minors”.
That was a reference to the fact that Mr B had attended the 18th birthday party of aspiring Neapolitan wannabe Noemi Letizia, who admitted cheerfully she knew the prime minister well, calling him “papi” (daddykins).
Following that we had a summer of risqué revelations about exuberant parties allegedly organised at Berlusconi’s private residences in Rome and Sardinia (Palazzo Grazioli and Villa Certosa), not to mention the testimony of call girl Patrizia D’Addario who claimed to have spent the night with the prime minister.
Those reports may well have convinced Mrs B that she was correct in her decision to end her 19-year marriage (the Berlusconis had actually lived together for 30 years). However, that leaves the not-so-small matter of the terms of their separation which must be agreed before the couple can divorce, three years down the road.
Originally Mrs B asked for an immodest €3.5 million in monthly alimony. Even Berlusconi, one of the world’s wealthiest men with a financial patrimony estimated at between €6 billion and €7 billion, blanched at this. In response, his lawyers offered €300,000 a month, adding that Mr Berlusconi wanted Villa Belvedere in Macherio back since, after all, it had been his money that acquired a property now estimated to have a modest €78 million price tag.
Following last weekend’s parly, it would seem the feuding couple have moved towards an agreement. Media reports claim the prime minister has dropped his claims on Villa Belvedere, leaving it to his wife for her lifetime. In return, she has greatly reduced her alimony requests, allegedly being ready to accept something close to her husband’s original offer.
All of which, however, still leaves some problems. Firstly, and perhaps not so importantly, Mrs B is allegedly concerned about the costs of the upkeep of the villa and its 286,000 square metres of parkland. Will you pay for the gardeners, Silvio? The security detail at Villa Belvedere reportedly costs more than €400,000 annually.
Then, too, there is the more serious question of the future of the couple’s three children, Barbara (25), Eleonora (23) and Luigi (21). Mrs B wants her husband to live up to the best traditions of any self-respecting Italian industrial baron and guarantee a role for all three in his huge commercial empire.
Berlusconi has already done just that for his two other children, Marina (43) and Piersilvio (41), the children from his first marriage to Carla Dall’Oglio. Marina is head of the Mondadori publishing house, while Piersilvio is deputy chairman of Mediaset, the Berlusconi television empire.
It could be that those divorce lawyers still have work to do.