Italian Magazine to Publish Paparazzi Photographs of Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi's famously stormy marriage looked as though it was heading back into choppy waters yesterday, two months after his wife humiliated him into a public apology for flirting with TV showgirls.

An Italian magazine announced it was to publish photographs of the media tycoon relaxing with no less than five young women at his Sardinian villa. In one picture he is shown with a girl on each knee. In others, he is seen walking hand in hand with one or more of his guests.

The photos, some of which were printed yesterday by the Corriere della Sera, are due to be published in full tomorrow in the gossip magazine Oggi. An advance copy of the cover showed Italy's former prime minister hand in hand with two women. Beneath the headline Berlusconi's Harem, Oggi said the "incredible" photographs would "be talked about for years to come".

The photos are likely to refuel a debate about the interaction between paparazzi and public figures in a country where politicians have been discreetly protected. Oggi, which is published by the same group as Corriere della Sera, was criticised last month for failing to publish photos showing the spokesman for Romano Prodi's centre-left government talking to a transvestite streetwalker from inside his car.

The opposition leader's spokesman told reporters yesterday: "I leave it to you to judge the editor of Oggi over both his behaviour today and in the past."

According to Corriere della Sera, the pictures were taken the Saturday before Easter. Mr Berlusconi's spokesman said they merely showed "a normal holiday visit, with Mr Berlusconi happy and proud to show his guests the wonders of his garden". He accused Oggi of selecting only the photos that showed the leader of the Italian right with his younger female guests.

In January, Mr Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, demanded a public apology from him after newspaper reports appeared of his behaviour at a TV awards ceremony. He declared of a showgirl-turned-MP: "I'd marry her if I weren't married already."