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Row over Berlusconi’s villa renovation plan

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Rome: With its imposing tree-lined drive, extensive outbuildings, surrounding park and 10,000-volume library, the neo-classical Villa San Martino appears to have everything the most demanding of tycoons requires of a home. And that is without the mausoleum — complete with giant, pink marble sarcophagus — that its owner Silvio Berlusconi has created in the grounds.

But some people, it seems, are never satisfied. Italy’s billionaire Prime Minister wants to double the size of the property. And his plans are running into controversy in Arcore and beyond.

An opposition Senator has tabled a question in Parliament for Mr. Berlusconi’s Environment Minister on the go-ahead for a project that would enlarge the government leader’s mansion by more than half the size of a football pitch. Opponents claim the scheme was modified, extended, and then rushed through a council controlled by his followers. It is not the first time Mr. Berlusconi has come under attack for allegedly playing fast and loose with planning laws. Four years ago, he was accused of embarking on a grandiose embellishment of his seaside Sardinian estate without planning permission.

The project included the creation of an underground landing stage reminiscent of a Bond film. When a prosecutor attempted to investigate the objections, he found all Mr. Berlusconi’s properties were covered by an official secrecy decree issued by Mr. Berlusconi’s own government. Dating from the 18th century, the Villa San Martino was bought by Mr. Berlusconi in 1974 with shares he eventually reacquired for just $200,000. Some of the most important meetings of his turbulent political career have been held within its finely decorated walls.

La Stampa quoted council sources as saying Mr. Berlusconi was ready to increase his contribution by funding an old people’s home. The 3,000 square metres in the revised plan are for an imposing four-sided building around a courtyard which, the newspaper speculated, could be used for short visits by the 71-year-old billionaire’s children and growing numbers of grandchildren. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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