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Berlusconi 'on the verge' of nervous breakdown: tycoon

Two of Italy's richest men were at loggerheads on Monday after the chief executive of a multi-million-dollar shoe empire claimed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Mr Berlusconi is a tired man. His family should take him home and take care of him," said Diego Della Valle, the head of Tod's Shoes.

His comments follow an outburst by Berlusconi at a meeting of the country's business leaders in Vicenza at the weekend, in which he claimed entrepreneurs who supported the left had "skeletons in their cupboard" and had something to hide. The brunt of the prime minister's tirade was directed at Della Valle, an old adversary, who was seated near the front of the hall. He shouted back that Berlusconi should be ashamed of himself, and at one point both men were jabbing their fingers at each other.

Della Valle made his comments afterwards on a TV sports channel, following a football match involving Fiorentina, the team that he owns. He said Berlusconi's "nasty" behavior at the meeting of Confindustria was a sign that the prime minister was panicking because he faced defeat in the polls on April 9-10.

The unseemly spat has raised the temperature of the election campaign, which still has three weeks to go.

Referring to Berlusconi by his nickname, a front page editorial in the daily newspaper Il Foglio said yesterday: "The knight is now tilting at windmills and the outcome of wars against windmills is well known. Knights generally succumb."

Last week, Berlusconi failed to shine in a live televised debate with his opponent, the former president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, who heads the center-left challenge. Berlusconi was judged to have been too much on the defensive, demanding credit for what his conservative coalition had achieved rather than setting out his plans for another five-year term.

Irked by claims of a lackluster performance, Berlusconi opted to attack. At first he called off his appearance at Confindustria, citing back problems, and then he surprised everyone by turning up.

He began by trying to flatter his audience, but then let rip, accusing various Italian news-papers of supporting the left and inventing the country's economic crisis, claiming businessmen were running scared of leftist magistrates and refusing requests to adhere to the rules of the assembly's question-and-answer session.

"It was an anti-democratic, illiberal appearance, and, if I might add, it was highly offensive," Confindustria deputy chairman Andrea Pininfarina said.

While allies such as the agriculture minister, Gianni Alemanno, called Berlusconi's behavior at the conference "embarrassing," other supporters were delighted that he had gone on the attack.

"Phase 2 has begun. I say to Silvio, `Go on like that,"' said Roberto Calderoli, a leader of the Northern League, the government coalition party. "He really has balls."
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