Another villa for PM as Italy faces credit crunch

London, Aug. 8: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apparently is not too bothered about the credit crunch woes of his fellow Italians, for he has gone ahead and purchased a neo-classical villa at Lesa on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

According to the Times, 71-year-old Berlusconi already owns a mansion in Milan, which he is expanding, luxury seaside villas in Sardinia and Bermuda, and a Renaissance palace in Rome, among other properties. The family that launched the Campari drinks empire formerly owned the latest buy.

Berlusconi, is currently renting the thirty-room Villa Correnti, named after Cesare Correnti, a hero of the nineteenth century Risorgimento, the struggle to unite Italy, while the deal goes through. No price has been disclosed.

Reports said the villa, known locally as the Villa Campari because it was owned by the Garavoglia family, which created the famous aperitif, was being bought in the name of Marina Berlusconi, the Prime Minister’s daughter by his first marriage and an executive in his media empire.

He is retreating to Lake Maggiore because the privacy of Villa Certosa, his estate at Porto Rotondo, is invaded by paparazzi and by "a stream of visitors". Roberto Grignoli, the mayor of Lesa, said he welcomed Berlusconi "with open arms".

—ANI