ROME: A few months after Silvio Berlusconi's marital spat made headlines, the former prime minister was in the news for non-political reasons again on Wednesday when a magazine ran photos of him with young women.

Paparazzi-style pictures showing Italy's richest man holding hands of a group of women and were sitting on his lap during Easter weekend at his Sardinian villa were splashed on the cover of celebrity magazine Oggi and reprinted by some newspapers.

Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, said the photos were taken illegally by trespassers during a function with plenty of men around, and that just out of frame were other guests and service staff. He threatened to sue.

Berlusconi's supporters said the photos were nothing shocking -- and hardly justified the magazine's headline: “Berlusconi's Harem”. Indeed, Berlusconi, 70, often looked more like an uncle than a sultan.—Reuters