Former topless model joins Berlusconi's cabinet as Italy's equalities minister

Daily Mail ^ | 9th May 2008 | NICK PISA

[PotatoHeadMick]

It is not the sort of appointment Gordon Brown would make to his cabinet.

But then Mr Brown is no Silvio Berlusconi, playboy and man of ostentatious political gestures.

The Italian prime minister, long known for his fondness for pretty women, has named former topless model and beauty queen Mara Carfagna as equal opportunities minister in his new cabinet.

Miss Carfagna, 33, turned to politics after a career on TV following her sixth-place finish in the 1997 Miss Italy contest.

She has also posed topless and semi-naked for photoshoots but has always underlined her family values and stressed none of the pictures were "erotic".

Mr Berlusconi, 71, named her as one of four women ministers in his cabinet, which was officially installed yesterday.

The others are Stefania Prestigiacomo (environment), Maria Stella Gelmini (education) and Giorgia Meloni (youth).

At an awards dinner last year Mr Berlusconi told Miss Carfagna, who is single, that if he wasn't married he would "gladly marry" her.

His wife Veronica sent a letter to a national newspaper demanding he apologise for embarrassing her - which he duly did.

A law graduate from Salerno University, Miss Carfagna worked for Mediaset - Mr Berlusconi's TV company - where she appeared on several programmes before becoming an MP.

She has refused to talk of her modelling career but in an interview once said: "I am a bit of a prude and I found getting undressed in front of a camera not a pleasant experience."

Speaking of her appearance in Miss Italy she said: "That competition makes you as a woman, it matures you.

"All that stress, that desire to win, it makes you understand who you are."

Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party won a powerful mandate in last month's election.

[El Gato]

Obviously what were on display when she posed topless were NOT her best assets.

[El Gato]

Do men actually find an ass that size attractive? For real?

Bet your bippy!

Although by the other pictures, some of that is camera angle.

[El Gato]

You can say what you want, but those Italians know how to run a country with style.

Actually they don't know how to run a country. But they do fail at it in style.

[RonF]

This guy makes Bubba look like an amateur.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

make that 3 best gifts from Italy:

[El Gato]

She's not the only relatively young woman minister in the new government.

(LtoR) Giorgia Meloni, Maria Stella Gelmini, Mara Carfagna and Stefania Prestigiacomo

If nothing else the men in the government should be too distracted to mess things up too badly. :)

[El Gato]

Maybe it's just the camera angle but it looks out of proportion huge to the rest of her.

It's mostly the camera angle, and the pose. Other photos show that she does have wide hips, but not a bubble bottom. Just nice curves.

[Syncro]

Translation:

Oh Syncro I am waiting right here for you!

[ExpatGator]

Yes, for real.

[nomorelurker]

Any chance you can introduce me to the Mara lady (dark hair white suit)?

[endthematrix]

I was close to being drawn and quartered for a comment like that in Feminazi run sociology class.

[fieldmarshaldj]

D’oh, hot face but hippo butt. :-P

[fieldmarshaldj]

Too big for moi.

[dennisw]

Mama mia!!

[ChildOfThe60s]

If those are hideous breasts I am Fidel Castro

Seriously, are we looking at the same picture? Her breasts in this pictures bear no resemblance to the other pictures (in which they are very attractive).

They look like they were inflated with a bicycle pump. They don't look natural at all. And in my book that's ugly. Attractiveness is not defined by volume alone.

[VOA]

I was close to being drawn and quartered for a comment like that
in Feminazi run sociology class.

I'm suprised (and happy) that you survived.

Academia has become a haven for folks that can't handle the truth.

[Dick Vomer]

that’s Berlusconi’s wife....

[ChildOfThe60s]

that’s Berlusconi’s wife...

Thanks, that clears that up. So it's Berlusconi's wife that has the Inflata-Boobies^TM.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Do men actually find an ass that size attractive? For real?

Um, yeah!

I don't want to have to do a chromosome test to know if I'm looking at a woman or a skinny teenage boy.

Curves in all the right places are most definitely attractive.

[woofie]

Maybe she drank too much Italian fizzy water the day before but I am not complaining