Premier Silvio Berlusconi appeared unruffled and confident on Thursday, taking time out from his schedule to exchange quips with workers over an ongoing media storm over his private life.
Speaking as he toured a construction site to build new homes for the quake-stricken residents of L'Aquila, the premier told workers: ''Where are the girls? I don't see any. In that case, I'll have to bring them next time I come''.
The premier appeared visibly satisfied that work was proceeding according to the government's announced timetable that before the end of the year all those living in tents will be given homes.
''Well boys, if all goes well, I'll really bring the showgirls. Otherwise, we'll all come across as gays,'' said the premier.
Berlusconi later told a news conference that the time-out with the workers was his way ''of reacting to all the rubbish and falsehoods that are directed'' against him.
Berlusconi,72, has been at the centre of a media storm since a public divorce spat with his wife Veronica Lario, who accused him of ''consorting with minors'' after he attended the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, an aspiring showgirl.
The media tycoon-turned politician has categorically denied any ''steamy or more than steamy'' involvement with teenagers, explaining there was nothing ''spicy'' about his attendance at Letizia's party because he had a long friendship with her family.
He is now fending off flak over a new uproar over allegations that female escorts were paid to attend parties at his homes in Rome and Sardinia.
One of the escorts claims she spent the night at Berlusconi's Rome home last November 4 but the premier has denied ever paying for sex, saying that press reports are ''just rubbish''.
POPULARITY STILL HIGH, PREMIER SAYS.
The premier was also upbeat during his address to an assembly of pharmaceuticals firms association Farmindustria in L'Aquila, telling the businessmen the media storm on his private life was having a negligible effect on his popularity with Italians.
''Despite everything that has been written and has been said (about me) over the last few days, I've just been informed that my personal popularity rating stands at 61%,'' the premier said.
The media tycoon-turned politician did not say who provided the figure but, in the past, he has said that he commissions his own public opinion polls.
Speaking on a state-run Rai television talk show at the start of the month to explain the divorce, Berlusconi said his popularity was not waning and stood at 73%.
The premier has accused the left-leaning press of fomenting a smear campaign and on Wednesday repeated that he was in the grips of a ''campaign, fed by hatred and personal jealousy, that certainly isn't doing any good for the country''.
The scandals have shocked the foreign press and snatched considerable coverage in Italian newspapers, prompting the influential Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana to say that the premier had ''overstepped the bounds of decency'' with his ''indefensible'' behaviour.
Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party fared well in European and local elections earlier this month, though less well than expected.
Berlusconi has dismissed talk of resignation, saying he plans to complete the remaining four years of his term as premier and stressing that he had strong support from his Northern League party allies and within the PdL.
Referring to the escorts probe involving southern businessman Giampaolo Tarantini, Berlusconi said he ''unfortunately invited the wrong guest'' (Tarantini) who had in turn ''invited the wrong guest's guest''.
''But unfortunately these are things that happen with the hundreds of people I have around my table,'' said Berlusconi, who described himself as ''a great show-stealer and entertainer''. Reacting to photographs taken by two of the women in bedrooms and bathrooms of his home, Berlusconi said: ''I have never dreamed of asking a guest to give up their phone and everything that happens in my presence is nothing less than moral and normal''.
On Thursday, the left-leaning weekly L'Espresso said Berlusconi said Tarantini and Berlusconi had exchanged dozens to talk about women.
In an anticipation of a report which will be published Friday, L'Espresso, did not, however, provide details or a source. The story of the friendship between Berlusconi and Tarantini broke last week when the Milan daily Corriere della Sera said Bari prosecutors investigating a kick-back scandal had wiretappings of a suspect who claimed to know the premier talking about the parties and paid escorts.
According to L'Espresso, Tarantini, 34, ''exchanged dozens of calls (with Berlusconi) at all hours of the day and night''.
The weekly said the premier allegedly ''had no secrets or embarrassments'' when talking to Tarantini, '' so much so as to describe in detail- from hair colour to the measure of their curves - the sort of women he wanted sent to Palazzo Grazioli (in Rome) or Villa Certosa (in Sardinia)''.
Judicial sources in Bari said last week that prosecutors had locked away audio tapes made by the woman who alleges she was paid to spend the night at the Berlusconi's Rome home.
The sources said prosecutors had not given the tapes to experts - who are routinely tasked with clearing up any background noise and transcribing contents - in a bid to prevent transcripts from being leaked to the press.
