Capello: Italians baffled by UK press

Fabio Capello's honeymoon with the English press came to an abrupt end yesterday when it emerged that the new England manager is under investigation by Italian tax authorities. But Italian journalists are reportedly baffled at the way their English counterparts have given Capello's tax inquiry such prominence. While the story is splashed over this morning's British newspapers, the news was greeted with weary shrugs in Italy, which is used to such investigations, both in the sporting world and the political arena.

As reported here yesterday, prosecutors in Turin are investigating sponsorship payments made to Capello during his time in charge of Juventus between 2004 and 2006. Italian news agency ANSA was bemused at the prominence given to the story among "all the main British media". ANSA itself placed the story well down its news list - below the resignation of the Italian Justice Minister and the cancellation of a speech by the Pope at Rome University because of student protests.

One Italian media outlet which was highlighting the story was Il Giornale. The right-of-centre newspaper is owned by Paolo Berlusconi, the brother of media tycoon and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has been tried in Italian courts countless for fraud and never been convicted. The latest Berlusconi case involves UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell's husband David Mills who is accused by Italian prosecutors of accepting a gift from the former PM in return for friendly evidence given as a prosecution witness against him. This case, too, has generally attracted less media attention in Italy than in Britain.