Is there a link between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s hold on political power inside Italy and his hold over the wider scandal-craved collective imagination of our contemporary culture? Clues to that question may be found in a series of blurry photographs that have wound up on the front page of the respected Spanish daily El País. The five photos show scenes of poolside nudity and seminudity inside the walls of the Prime Minister’s private villa on the island of Sardinia, as well as images of a Berlusconi walking in the company of several different women.
