ROME — No one accuses Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of being a reluctant host.
In fact, as he greets the world leaders jetting in to Italy today for a three-day summit, the billionaire head of government's problem is just the opposite: Eyebrows are raised at home and abroad at Berlusconi's willingness to welcome guests who tend to be young, photogenic women.
There was the teenage girl whose photo allegedly captivated the 72-year-old Berlusconi enough for him to invite her to his Sardinian villa for a private New Year's Eve bash. Then too the bevy of beauties at another of his parties, caught on camera holding his hands and sitting in his lap -- prompting a magazine to dub them "Berlusconi's harem."
And there was the paid escort who claims to have been one of many call girls sent to Berlusconi's Rome residence, and who said she slept with the prime minister on Barack Obama's election night.
For weeks, the scandals have been a source of amusement to some Italians, disgust to others. But this week, as Berlusconi prepares to host the Group of 8 summit, there is a hint of queasiness over the image of Italy he projects.
"The shame of Italy is before the world," an elderly man told former senator Tana de Zulueta, one of Berlusconi's harshest critics, as hundreds of reporters began converging on this sun-baked nation.
The G-8 summit usually offers the host leader a chance to shine in the global spotlight, ushering his peers about in a series of photo opportunities against beautiful settings. This year's backdrop is L'Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region, which was devastated in April by an earthquake that killed more than 300 people.
But the summit is also taking place amid aftershocks of another kind: the stubborn bad news from the worst global economic downturn in 60 years. It's a backdrop that would seem to require the leaders to be seen rolling up their sleeves. Instead they arrive with the distraction of Berlusconi's seemingly unrepentant personal behavior.
"This has concentrated people's attention on Berlusconi's private life rather than whether the G-8's dealing with Africa, whether they're going to deal with financial regulations, whether they'll come out with a statement on Iran," says James Walston, a professor of international relations at the American University of Rome.
