For the reporter in Rome, tired of trying to understand the inner workings of Italian politics, salvation is at hand: the possibility of a nice, warm soak in a sunken bath.
It so happened that the bathroom was where Silvio Berlusconi indulged in some of his jaw-dropping “bunga bunga” antics as he frolicked with young women less than a third of his age.
On Monday, the foreign press corps moved into a grand palace in Rome known as “Il Cavaliere,” which was last owned by the former prime minister.” (Knight).
The bath water was still running when one of the 300 or so international reporters who make up the Foreign Press Association tried the taps.
The building right next to the famous Trevi Fountain, the last home of the press members, was sold and turned into a five-star hotel.
After a careful search for a new location, the 16th-century Palazzo Grazioli was chosen.
This was Berlusconi’s home for many years, both when he was prime minister and when he was forced to resign in 2011 due to a severe debt crisis.
The most surprising feature, besides the sunken bath, may be the secret door hidden behind a wooden bookcase in one of the rooms where journalists will now examine replicas.
A hidden handle allows the bookcase to creak open, revealing a dark space and an old wooden door.
The door opens to a back staircase that leads to the palace courtyard; perhaps the perfect escape for a frustrated reporter whose foreign editor is put on the warpath because of a missed deadline.
Another wide staircase is overlooked by the head of a stuffed Javanese rhinoceros shot in 1879 by an Italian duke, ancestor of the aristocratic Grazioli family, which still owns the building.
The foreign press association took over the entire first floor of the palazzo, known in Italian as “piano nobile”, literally the noble floor where the bedrooms and reception rooms were traditionally located.
George Clooney once passed through here, hoping to talk to the prime minister about aid efforts in Darfur. Berlusconi had other ideas.
“It was a very different evening than anyone thought,” the Hollywood actor later recalled. “I was saying, ‘I have to go,’ and he was like, ‘No, where are you going? “There’s going to be a party,’ and I said, ‘No, I have to go, I’m really going.'”
Most of the original decoration and accessories have been preserved. There are large tapestries and oil paintings on the walls, as well as elaborate mirrors and chandeliers. Frescoes on the ceilings depict muscular classical heroes, thick-hipped angels and scantily clad fairies.
‘How beautiful’
“Che bello – how beautiful,” said foreign press club member Alina Trabattoni. “Almost too much.”
The heavy cost of renting the property is paid by the Italian state.
The regulation has its origins in the Fascist era; Mussolini was keen for all foreign journalists to be gathered in one place so he could follow them.
Rome’s correspondents are a privileged group. There are a handful of foreign correspondent clubs around the world, in places like Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo, but they rarely offer facilities as sumptuous as those in Rome.
There was great excitement as journalists of many different nationalities, from Canadians and Iranians to British, French, Germans and Turks, arrived at work on Monday and admired the opulent décor.
“It’s like the first day at school. You expect to see everyone putting their pencils and pencil cases away,” said a British colleague.
The toilets have been left as they were when Berlusconi lived here, along with the bathrooms and brass taps. Water still flows from the taps, promising lunch in the tub.
‘I was drowned in kisses’
The Telegraph’s desk is located in Berlusconi’s former bedroom; Unfortunately, the double bed, which was said to have been gifted to him by Vladimir Putin, has been removed.
He invited a prostitute named Patrizia D’Addario to spend the night. The Prime Minister wrote an excruciatingly detailed account of this encounter in a book titled Enjoy Yourself.
“He told me he wanted to touch my skin, he held me tight, took my breath away… He smothered me with kisses,” Ms. D’Addario wrote. “We kissed endlessly, especially him kissing my private parts.”
His endurance was enough to “enter the Guinness Book of Records”. It kept him up all night, he said. “There were moments when I was afraid that I would not be able to resist their attacks. Is he buying anything? I asked myself over and over.” He thought his energy might have come from the “disgustingly sweet” herbal tea he drank.
She was invited back to the palace by the Prime Minister, and she was not the only woman who came into his sights on this occasion. “I thought I had seen it all as an escort, but 20 women to one man was a new experience.”
Journalists can now wander down a long corridor where Berlusconi and Putin are photographed throwing a ball to one of the Italian prime minister’s white poodles named Dudu.
sensual period
At the height of the bunga bunga scandals, while the prime minister was being entertained by young models and aspiring actors, a couple wearing little black dresses took photos of each other by posing in front of a mirror holding a hairdryer like a gun. If only there were Bond girls.
Inevitably the photos were leaked and became one of the enduring images of Berlusconi’s period of lasciviousness. Reporters joked about finding G-strings and panties in bathroom cabinets.
Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister and a billionaire businessman, died last year.
At its center is a bar with an arrangement of Campari bottles; The beverage manufacturer is one of the venue’s sponsors, along with pasta company Barilla and chocolate company Ferrero.
“I think we probably have the best foreign press club in the world because of our last place,” said Philip Willan, a British journalist who has lived in Italy for decades and occasionally writes for The Times.
“There can be no doubt about this new place.”