ROME, Jan 31: Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday issued a public apology to his wife after she learned through the press of his verbal dalliance with a young, pretty lawmaker. “Please forgive me, and take this public testimony ... as an act of love, one among many,” the former Italian prime minister said after Veronica Lario wrote a letter to La Repubblica newspaper demanding his contrition, which she said he had failed to show in private.

“Dear Veronica, here is my apology,” Italy's richest man wrote in a letter carried by the ANSA news agency. “My days are crazy, as you know. Work, politics, problems, trips ... a life under constant pressure.”

Mr Berlusconi, head of the country's largest political party Forza Italia, was quoted as cooing to member of Parliament Mara Carfagna, 31, at a recent gala dinner: “I'd go anywhere with you, even to a desert island. If I weren’t already married, I would marry you straight away.”

The 50-year-old Lario, Mr Berlusconi's second wife, wrote: “These are remarks that I interpret as hurting my dignity ... and that, given (Berlusconi’s) age, family context and political and social role, cannot be laughed off as simple pleasantries.”

Mr Berlusconi, 70, replied: “Your dignity has nothing to do with all that, it’s a precious thing that I keep in my heart even when by mouth spouts thoughtless jokes. —AFP