Berlusconi like Santa Claus: the former prime minister bestows jobless couple 50.000 euro

Monday, 6 January 2014. A jobless couple wrote a letter to Silvio Berlusconi about their miserable condition, and get in reply 50,000 euro from the former prime minister of Italy. It's in the news.

Santa's hat, a headgear Berlusconi hasn't worn yet
(we Photoshopped it, as you might have noticed)

Hitherto to get private donations from Silvio Berlusconi you had to be a sexy young woman like the Ruby the Heartstealer or the other “olgettine”, as the billionaire said he wasn't able to “take care of personal situations”.

Now something has obviously changed, and the money of the former prime minister of Italy seems not to be just a prerogative of the Berlusconi women, as the local newspaper Il Gazzettino reported on Monday.

It could be due to the Christmas atmosphere, or (as Silvio's enemies might think) just to the lack of better arguments in his struggle to gain visibility, avoid jail and stay alive after being convicted for tax fraud and subsequently being expelled from the Senate of Italy.

Whatever, the fact is that a couple of jobless people – or a jobless couple – living in Pordenone, one of the richest parts of Italy, wrote a letter to Mr Berlusconi (just as you do with Santa Claus or Father Christmas or whoever you whant to bring you gifts) back in December, explaining their dire financial situation, which was going to worsen as the woman is expecting twins.

In reply to their supplication, the two - Tommasina Pisciottu and Mario Padovan - received a not-too-Christmassy card with the old chestnut about the leftists and the judiciary, and the resistance (at the end of the post we publish a complete translation of the message), and – possibly much more appreciated - three checks, adding up to 50,000 euro (that is, at today's rate, something like $68,000 or $41,000).

Note and checks sent by Mr Berlusconi to the jobless couple

“There are no words to describe what I have felt. I can only say that when my children grow up, I will continue to tell them that Father Christmas exists,” said Tommasina, a 40-year-old woman from Sardinia.

Mr Berlusconi's girlfriend, Francesca Pascale, might be relieved by the fact that – due to the incoming sex scandal trial (his boyfriend just filed for appeals, as the bunga-bunga sex trial is bound to linger on) – the long in the teeth politician seems bound to spend less time (and cash) with stripping women, and more time with other issues. Less philandering, more philanthropy, could be his claim for the incoming year.

Here's the translation of the card received by the couple in Friuli:
“Thank you for the wishes! … at 77 I'm still here to resist against this left[-wing politics] and its judiciary, dangerous to Italy, to democracy, to our freedom. [signed] Silvio Berlusconi”