Silvio Berlusconi university puts bunga bunga into politics

Silvio Berlusconi plans new university to train young politicians, complete with a sexologist who’ll teach secrets of body language.

Silvio Berlusconi has revealed plans for a new university to train young politicians, complete with a sexologist. Picture: AFP.

Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, has revealed plans for a new university to train young politicians, complete with a sexologist who will teach the secrets of body language.

Berlusconi, 85, who hosted “bunga bunga” striptease parties while heading a regime dogged by corruption claims, will also be among the lecturers, Italian media reported at the weekend. The Universitas Libertatis will be based at Villa Gernetto, a 60-bedroom property surrounded by parkland in Lombardy that the millionaire media mogul owns.

“The aim is to provide training for the future generation of politicians, something political parties no longer do, so Berlusconi’s initiative is very useful at filling a gap,” Mario Baccini, a former government minister who will teach finance, said. Enrolment will cost about euros 1,000, he said, with many courses taught online.

Joining the roster of lecturers will be Sara Negrosini, who describes herself as a “clinical sexologist treating sexual ailments”, including loss of libido.

Berlusconi never suggested during his long political career that he had needed such advice, once joking that when a pollster asked women if they would have sex with him, 33 per cent said yes, while the remainder said “Again?” A professional escort, Patrizia D’Addario, complimented Berlusconi’s “Guinness Book of Records” stamina in bed, saying that he seemed to draw energy from a “disgustingly sweet” herbal tea he sipped.

Silvio Berlusconi with then wife Veronica Lario in Rome, 2007. Picture: AFP.

Negrosini also tackles couples therapy, which Berlusconi appeared to need in 2009 when his wife walked out on him, accusing him of “frequenting minors”. Negrosini said she was being hired to teach politicians how to control their body language, using her training in “humanist psychotherapy and bio-energy”. She told the Italian daily La Repubblica: “I will show them how to adopt an assertive body language that can engage the public.”

Berlusconi worked hard on maintaining a smiling, cheerful appearance during his career, saying his father told him: “You must have the sun in your pocket and know how to give it to others with a smile.”

His obsession with staying young through hair transplants, make-up and alleged facelifts paved the way for appearance-obsessed leaders such as Donald Trump and President Putin. Berlusconi did come under fire for his body language, including an occasion when he gestured and looked Michelle Obama up and down as he greeted her in 2009.

The former prime minister has nursed an ambition to found a university since 2010, when he announced that he was opening the “University of Liberal Thought”, where his friend Putin would be among the lecturers.

Many thought Berlusconi would retire this year after a failed attempt to win the Italian presidency coincided with one of his increasingly frequent visits to hospital.

He showed that he was still physically active this weekend as he watched Monza, the second division football team he owns, and swapped a kiss with his partner, Martina Fascina, 32, when his team scored.

The Times