Berlusconi, the model & the boyfriend

The mystery of the relationship between Silvio Berlusconi and the 18-year-old model Noemi Letizia, which led the Italian Prime Minister's wife to seek a divorce, has taken a new turn. Letizia's former boyfriend, 22-year-old Gino Flaminio, has told an Italian newspaper that Berlusconi's insistence that he only knows the girl because of his friendship with her parents is untrue.

In an interview with La Repubblica, Flaminio said the relationship between his then girlfriend and the media tycoon turned politician began after a friend inadvertently left her modelling portfolio at one of the PM's homes following a dinner party. Berlusconi then telephoned Letizia.

"Noemi's parents have nothing to do with Berlusconi," Flaminio told La Repubblica, "the link is directly through him. Their relationship started around October 2008.

"It quickly became clear to me that Noemi and me had no future. He had a fatherly attitude when he was speaking to her and I didn't like it. I told her I didn't like it."

Flaminio said that he and Letizia broke up when Noemi agreed to spend the New Year holiday without him at Berlusconi's villa. "There were around 30 girls there and they were all given bungalows in the grounds to sleep in," said Flaminio. "Noemi told me that Berlusconi had treated them well and laughed and joked with them. She said that Berlusconi was only with them on New Year's Eve but I didn't believe her."

Flaminio said that whenever he called her at the villa she never answered her mobile. When he called a girlfriend she had taken with her, she would tell him Letizia was busy and couldn't talk. The girls were flown home to Naples on Berlusconi's private jet. "When she got back she wasn't my Noemi."

La Repubblica's latest revelation comes as the paper continues to press the Prime Minister to answer a list of 10 questions it published earlier this month, such as: "Is it true that you promised Noemi you would help her career in show business or in politics?"

The paper's campaign began after Berlusconi attended Letizia's 18th birthday party in Naples and presented her with a E6,000 gold necklace. A few days later Berlusconi's wife Veronica Lario announced that she was leaving him because he "spends too much time with minors" and because he was "not well".

Berlusconi has been incensed by La Repubblica's coverage and has refused to deal with the 10 questions. But he has said he is considering addressing Italy's parliament about his friendship with Letizia, claiming: "A lot of people should be ashamed of what they have said and written."

Meanwhile, Cherie Blair, appearing on Italian television to promote her autobiography, has talked about the infamous holiday she and her husband Tony Blair spent with Berlusconi in Sicily in 2004. Berlusconi insisted on taking them on a walkabout, wearing a bandana which the Blairs assumed was intended to hide the beginnings of a hair transplant.

Said Mrs Blair: "As we went out, Tony said to me 'Whatever happens make sure I am not photographed next to Silvio wearing a bandana. Make sure you are in the middle otherwise the British press will kill us'." ·