D’Addario hits out at Berlusconi allies

Patrizia D'Addario, the Italian callgirl who claims to have slept with Silvio Berlusconi, has accused the Italian prime minister's allies of attempting to destroy her reputation. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, D'Addario compared herself to Joan of Arc, saying she was being "sacrificed to a wicked and evil system" for revealing details of her night with Berlusconi at the Palazzo Grazioli in Rome.

"I'm the only one who is telling the truth and by doing so I've become a Joan of Arc," she said, speaking at a five-star hotel in her hometown of Bari. "I could have blackmailed Berlusconi but I chose not to." Pressed for more details about the alleged encounter, she said: "All I can say is that he was a likeable person. And we didn't get any sleep that night."

In another interview, with the Times, D'Addario claimed that she was just one of a number of escort girls paid to attend parties at Berlusconi’s Rome residence in October and November last year. "I'm the only one speaking out, and I am alone. It is hard. Silvio Berlusconi owes me an apology."

She added: "I won't name names, although I certainly could. But have you noticed that they all say the same thing? It’s as if they have all memorised it from a script. They all say [to the press] how kind and courteous Berlusconi was... But they don’t speak about the phone calls they made to me afterwards, saying, ‘Yuck, he was so sleazy. He had his hands everywhere. It made me want to vomit’. They don’t mention that."

Although D'Addario initially refused to talk to journalists about her alleged encounter with Berlusconi, she has since leaked a series of recorded bedroom conversations and in the past month has put her side of the story during trips to France, Spain and Turkey.

The 42-year-old also claims to be writing an autobiography in which she promises to offer further details of her relationship with Berlusconi. "I've called it La Mia Vita (My Life) and it's nearly finished. I was able to work hard on it because I haven't been going out and I haven't been sleeping much."