Il Cavaliere Goes on Holiday.(Silvio Berlusconi)

Byline: Mauro Suttora

Yes, under his leadership Italy's public debt has soared to 1.5 trillion euros, the third largest in the world. Yes, he controls six TV channels, monopolizing 90 percent of Italian television. And no, he hasn't solved his various conflicts of interest: he doesn't want to give up his media empire and sees no reason why as prime minister he shouldn't meddle on its behalf. But whatever you think about his politics, Silvio Berlusconi is fun.

Just last month I was enjoying a cocktail in a cafe in Porto Cervo, the tony resort in Sardinia where he also holidays. Suddenly the whole town square erupted in shouts. "Berlusconi! Blair! Here they come!" Everybody rushed to a corner of the piazzetta, where the Italian and British prime ministers were walking, loosely protected by a very few bodyguards in spite of all the terrorism alerts. Berlusconi had this incredible white bandanna wrapped around his balding pate, looking like a weird cross between Janis Joplin and Steven Van Zandt. The guy is 68, and though reportedly multilifted, his face definitely shows his age. Yet he was so happy and smiling that the crowd broke into spontaneous applause.

Spontaneity: exactly what his so-serious political adversaries lack. As it happened, another guy in a bandanna was visiting Porto Cervo that day--Johnny Depp, star of "Pirates of the Caribbean." He didn't meet Berlusconi and Blair, even though he was hanging out just steps away at the fashionable Nikki Beach club. (Bad sign, when Italians borrow names from St-Tropez.) Half of Italy regards Berlusconi as a modern pirate, doing his dirty business. But to me he's got the swashbuckling appeal of Depp. Or maybe James Bond. Cruising off the Costa Smeralda one day, I noticed an immense scaffolding rising from the water. A friend explained that it was a "secret" port, being cut into the cliff ...