Wife Talked Berlusconi Into Surgery

Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who reappeared last week after uncharacteristically dodging the limelight for almost a month, said his wife, the former actress Veronica Lario, had talked him into having cosmetic surgery during his absence.

"It was she who urged me to do it," Mr Berlusconi told journalists accompanying a group of fashion designers who visited him at his official residence in Rome on Wednesday.

His account cast doubt on reports that the two are estranged. Equally surprisingly, Italy's image-conscious prime minister said he had "only had his eyelids redone".

How Mr Berlusconi, 67, lost most of his wrinkles, regained discernibly more prominent cheekbones and strikingly taut facial skin must, for the moment, remain a mystery. But he said that, at the start of December, he had gone on a strict diet and shed 11kg.

"For 15 days I ate no bread, pasta, rice, puddings or alcohol. Then I halved [the normal intake]," Mr Berlusconi said. "I've gone back to wearing clothes from 1992."

According to a report last week in the news magazine L'Espresso, Mr Berlusconi underwent extensive plastic surgery at the end of December in the Ars Medica clinic at Gravesano in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. The magazine said the operation was carried out by a surgeon from San Francisco.

Asked if he was vain, Mr Berlusconi replied: "I merely strive to be agreeable."