ITALIAN premier Silvio Berlusconi, who is going through a divorce, has solved the problem of not having a first lady to host other leaders' spouses at next week's G8 summit – a former topless model will look after them.
Former calendar girl Mara Carfagna – who is now Italy's equal opportunities minister – will guide the wives of the world's top leaders while at the conference.
Ms Carfagna is set to be joined by another female Italian cabinet colleague, education
minister Maria Stella Gelmini. The idea is said to have been thought up by Mr Berlusconi, 72, himself.
The former cruise ship crooner turned politician has been hit by a series of sleazy scandals in recent months and in May his long-suffering wife Veronica Lario, 52, announced that she was divorcing him.
Ms Lario claimed that she had had enough of her husband "frequenting minors" after it emerged that he had attended the 18th birthday party of model Noemi Letizia, giving her a 6,000 (£5,140) gold and diamond necklace.
In recent weeks Mr Berlusconi has been at the centre of a sex scandal after it was claimed that escort girl Patrizia D'Addario had been paid to spend the night at his Rome residence, Palazzo Grazioli.
Since then it has emerged that regular parties were held at Palazzo Grazioli and at his Villa Certosa estate in Sardinia, which girls were paid to attend.
Mr Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, also has a history with Ms Carfagna as two years ago – before she became an MP – he told her during a TV awards dinner that if he "wasn't already married" he would "run off" with her.
As a result of what he said, his furious wife demanded – and got – a public apology from Mr Berlusconi after she wrote to an Italian newspaper complaining of his behaviour. Last year, there was also further controversy between Mr Berlusconi and Ms Carfagna after a comedian claimed that she had performed a sex act with the politician.
It came after Italian newspapers had been buzzing with rumours that Mr Berlusconi and an unnamed female minister took part in the sort of activity not written about since the days of former US president Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
During an anti-Berlusconi rally in Rome, comedian Sabina Guzzanti named the woman as Ms Carfagna and she hit back and said she would sue as the claims were "vulgar and fanciful".
Ms Carfagna is the youngest member of the Italian cabinet and she entered politics in 2006 after a career in TV.
Many were surprised at her appointment, given her inexperience – and the fact that before joining the cabinet she had posed topless and semi-naked. But she highlighted her family values and insisted that none of the pictures was "erotic".
The world leaders will gather in the earthquake-hit central Italian city of L'Aquila on Wednesday to discuss the economy, climate change, development and food security.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is attending with his wife Sarah and she will have a day in Rome before joining her husband in L'Aquila on Wednesday night for the rest of the summit.
Along with other leaders and their partners, the Browns will stay at the financial police barracks in Coppitto, which is the summit venue, and they will also see first hand the effects of April's earthquake, which killed 300 people.
