Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Times sull'Unto e commenti

From The Times
June 27, 2009
Social scene in Bari ‘holds key’ to questions Silvio Berlusconi still won’t 
answer
In Bari girls with no apparent political contacts are finding themselves in 
close contact with the Prime Minister
Lucy Bannerman in Bari
Take an evening stroll along the promenade that separates the town centre 
from the sea and one’s first impression is that Bari is full of teenagers. 
Girls hang off Vespas, boys pass around cigarettes. After dark they come in 
their hundreds to the main square, in their hotpants and white jeans, to sit 
on the medieval wall that sweeps down to the harbour. Come summer, the wall 
wriggles with hundreds of pairs of tanned legs.
From Rome to Naples to the Sardinian coast, the scandal surrounding Silvio 
Berlusconi has reached this sprawling port city, on the hard-up heel of the 
Italian peninsula.
The saga that began with the Prime Minister’s puzzling relationship with the 
18-year-old daughter of a “family friend” has prompted a political crisis, 
with allegations involving call girls, cocaine, a prostitution ring and the 
systematic recruitment of pretty young women paid to attend parties at Mr 
Berlusconi’s private homes. He has dismissed the allegations surrounding the 
sex scandal as rubbish and insisted that he has nothing to be ashamed of.
Patrizia D’Addario, the escort who claims to have slept at Mr Berlusconi’s 
residence in Rome on the night Barack Obama was elected President; Barbara 
Montereale, the 23-year-old hostess who claims he gave her €10,000 (£8,500) 
“as a present”; Gianpaolo Tarantini, the businessman who allegedly 
introduced them. Here, in Bari’s seedy social scene, is the key to the 
questions Mr Berlusconi refuses to answer, prosecutors believe.
Arguably it is the relationships formed here, in what the Italian media like 
to call the undergrowth of the entertainment world, that are threatening to 
topple the most powerful man in Italy. “Obviously someone has understood 
that around here there is a fertile breeding ground of people who dream of 
being models, of being on television. Lots of really beautiful boys and 
girls,” says Manila Gorio, a transgender talent scout from Bari, who hosts 
reality television shows on the local network and runs a casting agency. 
“And they have thought of putting them into the right circles of important 
people.”
Mr Tarantini, who is under investigation for corruption and abetting 
prostitution, denies paying women for anything more than travel expenses. 
When asked if the “someone” to whom she refers is Mr Tarantini, Miss Gorio 
replies: “It’s a theory,” but declines to elaborate.
Miss Gorio calls Miss D’Addario her best friend and says she knows Mr 
Tarantini and “Nicola D”, the gay party organiser and alleged drug dealer 
who prosecutors believe is “crucial” to their inquiry, all from the Bari 
club scene. She talks of nights at a fashionable joint called Gorgeous, 
dancing on tables with Miss D’Addario in their bare feet and sharing bottles 
of champagne at Mr Tarantini’s table.
So far 19 women have been questioned by Bari prosecutors, among them Miss D’Addario 
and Miss Montereale, Lucia Rossini, 24, the former Big Brother contestant 
Angela Sozio, 36, and a local representative of Mr Berlusconi’s People of 
Freedom Party called Elvira Savino, 32.
Each is from Bari and knows Mr Tarantini. And each was catapulted into 
direct contact with Mr Berlusconi, either eating at his table at Palazzo 
Grazioli in Rome, enjoying the luxury of his Sardinian home, Villa Certosa, 
or even being asked to stand as a candidate for his party. “It’s easy to 
find a girl who has hopes of entering the world of entertainment, taking her 
from the low level to something higher,” says Miss Gorio. So how and why are 
these veline, or “showgirls” — girls with no apparent political contacts — 
finding themselves in such close contact with the Prime Minister?
Barbara Montereale provides the most compelling explanation so far. 
Estranged from her unemployed mother, she lives in an apartment in Modugno, 
a Bari suburb, with her 13-month-old daughter. She told The Times that after 
meeting Mr Tarantini through Miss D’Addario, she agreed to work for him, 
earning €1,000 for every party she attended. “I have always said to 
Gianpaolo that if I go to a party where I don’t know people, then, being a 
hostess, it’s obvious that I will want to get paid. I don’t go to parties 
where I don’t know people for fun.”
She had tried a TV career on one of Miss Gorio’s reality programmes. But she 
claims it was the arrangement with Mr Tarantini that secured the rite of 
passage for any aspiring showgirl: an invitation to Villa Certosa.
At the villa Miss Montereale recalled a strange, almost competitive, 
atmosphere among the 20 other girls who were invited to a party in 
midJanuary. “There were a lot of girls who didn’t know each other. I didn’t 
even speak to most of them. The only person I knew was Gianpaolo.”
After the visit, during which she earned €11,000 — a €1,000 fee from 
Tarantini and the rest “a present” from Mr Berlusconi — she claims to have 
continued her contact with the businessman. “He called me to go to parties, 
always Berlusconi’s parties. Once I called him to see if there was any work. 
He would say, ‘don’t worry, bella, when there’s work, I’ll call you’.
“Then all the Noemi scandal broke, and the calls stopped.” She refers to 
Noemi Letizia, the teenage model from Naples. Mr Berlusconi has failed to 
give a coherent explanation of their relationship since it emerged she went 
to a party at his villa when she was 17.
But the girl from Bari had one more lifeline to VIP circles. For three 
summers, from the age of 18, she worked at the Billionaire club, a jetset 
institution owned by Flavio Briatore, a former team owner in Formula One. 
The exclusive club, a few kilometres along the coast from Villa Certosa, is 
the magic portal through which the pretty meet the powerful. Staff are not 
waitresses — they are Billionairinas.
When The Times met Miss Montereale she was wearing a tight powder-blue top, 
which formed part of the club uniform. On the back was written “High Class”. 
Who did you meet while working there? “Lots of VIPs.” She smiles and says no 
more.
In 2006 she claimed to have met the two most important men in Italy for 
anyone seeking fame: Mr Berlusconi and Emilio Fede, one of his closest 
associates and director of TG4, the news programme on a channel belonging to 
the Prime Minister.
“As always, two Billionairinas were chosen to keep company at the table. On 
that occasion, Fede presented me to Berlusconi,” she said. Mr Fede later 
claimed he had never met Miss Montereale and had to have his memory jogged 
by a photo of the two together.
A guide to showgirls
Velina The term started in the 1920s and refers to a type of paper. It was 
later used to refer to the guidelines issued to journalists by the Ministero 
della Cultura Popolare during the Fascist period.
It took on a different meaning in the 1990s thanks to a famous TV programme 
on Mediaset, which Berlusconi owns, called Striscia la Notizia, in which the 
day’s news was handed to the anchorman by two girls, one brunette and one 
blonde.
The girls became known as “Le Veline”. From this, they came to play an 
iconic role in Italian television, offering a fast-track to fame for pretty 
girls. There is also a television programme called Veline, in which all the 
girls participate in bikini beauty pageants that are held in main squares 
across Italy
Soubrette An old expression for the saucy woman character in comic theatre, 
which means “conceited”. The character was often the light love interest 
(think Carry on films). It has come to mean a showgirl
Meteorina A weathergirl.This is a popular role on Mediaset. The weathergirls 
are said to be handpicked by Emilio Fede, Mr Berlusconi’s close friend and 
director of the news programme on his television channel Valletta The woman 
assistant in television quiz shows
In Italy the information It's driven during the last 15 years by Berlusconi.
In the last 15 years he was the most time Prime minister and government 
leader.
The reality we live right now it's the result of his own interest only doing 
laws to himself interest.
luca, Milano, Italy
What good relation with the US?The one he infamously started with an 
obtusely racist remark?Do me a favour! And, by the way,these girls were his 
own candidates/lovers,not LaRepubblica's employees.But his voters are the 
same sheep who thought Mussolini was a good leader:shame on you,ignorant 
sods!
Fabrizio Pagan, London, London
One more for your guide to showgirls:
"Schedina" a pretty girl who reads football pool results on TV. A 23 year 
old one has just been elected counsellor of the new Left wing Mayor of 
Florence. Shows that in Italy lovely girls know no political boundaries.
Julian David Birri, Milan, Italy
Good to see my fellow Paisans in NY & Jersey supporting Silvio. There is 17 
million Italian-Americans and nearly 30 million Americans with Italian blood 
and we stand united in Silvio and his close relationship he has with the 
U.S.
Daniel, Maspeth, Queens, U.S
It doesn’t disturb Berlusconi’s voters in the slightest what foreign press 
like THE TIMES, instigated by trashy papers like left-wing LA REPUBBLICA, is 
writing against Berlusconi. Berlusconi’s voters have a good laugh!
jasper, Bolzano, Italy
The "Corriere della Sera" has published a letter from Veronica Berlusconi 
asking " Why do people pass judgement without knowing the facts" referrng to 
adverse comments in her regards. She being one of the major causes of this 
hoo-hah, I reply "People who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones"
Julian David Birri, Milan, Italy
When rightwing people will understand the real impact of B.'s government on 
their country? B. ruled for 9 years in last 15 years... any real benefit for 
Italy? When rightwing people will start looking for another leader?Italy has 
no international credibility now: will Italy introduce "autaky" again?
Alex, London, UK
Does Italy need to wait until next Football World Cup to see its people to 
support their country all together? When leftwing people will stop just 
fighting and attacking B. (it is exactly what B. wants!! Do you understand 
this??) and will start working on a credible modern alternative?
Alex, London, UK
I have read tons of comments like "help us", " save us" , "invade us". What 
a shame for Italy... Do you need another Anzio??? Italians fight each other 
as enemies as 60 years ago...and in the meanwhile the salaries are lower and 
lower, public debt is higher and higher, and B. thanks and smiles.
Alex, London, UK
@ Anthony & Frank,
How Italian-Americans voted in the last Italian elections, and why (they 
thought Italy under Berlusconi was being "loyal" to America ?) is no more 
relevant than how Italian Americans voted in the last US Presidential 
elections.
Hellsbells, York,
Just commenting on the "disgust" of my Italian compatriot. Living in the US 
doesn't justify denial/not knowing what's happening here, on the other side 
of the Atlantic. What Times and other newspapers report are FACTS. What 
would you have said if Bill Clinton never apologized to his Country...?
Ugo, Pisa, Italy
World, please help us.

 answer
Ma dai, accidenti,
non sarebbe stato meglio se tu e TT ci aveste illustrato le strategie di 
Osama onde proteggere l'ambiente dalle emissioni..?!