The Times
From Richard Owen in Rome
SILVIO BERLUSCONI last night forgave the man who hit him with a tripod on New Year’s Eve and assured his assailant’s worried mother that he would not press charges.
The attack on the Italian Prime Minister was carried out by Roberto dal Bosco, a bricklayer from Mantua who was in a crowd at the Piazza Navona in Rome when he saw him greeting tourists. Signor Berlusconi suffered a slight bruise between his right ear and neck.
Signor dal Bosco, 28, said that he had thrown the tripod at Signor Berlusconi on instinct, “because I hate him . . . I couldn’t help myself”. But he later sent a message apologising for the assault.
In response, Signor Berlusconi telephoned his assailant, and got through to his mother. “Signora, don’t worry,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying. “I won’t press charges. For me the episode is closed.”
But as the two men made their peace, a new political controversy erupted after an Italian poet and senator compared Signor Berlusconi to the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1425880,00.html