Berlusconi avoids court by giving wife €80m villa

The Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose saga of friendships with showgirls and callgirls was only pushed off the front pages when Tiger Woods came along, has agreed to give his wife Veronica Lario an €80 million villa in order to avoid a messy divorce battle. But although Berlusconi, 73, appears to be finally paying the price for his relationships with various mistresses it seems the penalty will be far less than it might have been.
 
According to Italian newspaper reports, Lario, the 53-year-old former actress, will be able to keep the Villa Belvedere near Milan, where she currently lives with the couple's three children. In return, however, she will receive "considerably less" than the €3.5m a month in maintenance she originally asked for from her media mogul husband, whose fortune is estimated to be worth as much as €8 billion.
 
It is more likely that Lario - who was with Berlusconi for a total of 30 years including two decades of marriage - will receive around €300,000 a month, a sum closer to what Berlusconi originally offered.
 
Lario announced last May that she was divorcing Berlusconi, saying she could no longer remain with a man "who frequents minors". After a string of reports of extra-marital dalliances, and revelations from callgirl Patrizia D'Addario, the final straw for Lario appeared to be the revelation that Berlusconi had attended the 18th birthday party of aspiring actress and underwear model Noemi Letizia. Berlusconi gave her a gold and diamond necklace while she in turn referred to him as "Daddy".
 
Lario, who described her husband as "not a well man", said Berlusconi suffered from sex addiction. Although the Italian prime minister denied he had had any relationship with Letizia, the incident was followed by revelations of payments to showgirls and "escorts" to attend his parties in Rome and Sardinia.
 
Last November Lario threatened to file for a separazione con addebito - the first official step towards a divorce. Given that she would have claimed her husband was to blame for the failed marriage this would have led to a highly public courtroom battle inevitably focusing on the nature of Berlusconi's numerous extra-marital liaisons.
 
This was a legal headache that Berlusconi could do without. The PM is already facing criminal charges in two corruption trials and was recently called to stand trial in a third. ·