Elisabetta Gardini
Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/16/2004 11:41:47 PM PDT by MadIvan
SILVIO BERLUSCONI yesterday chose an actress and former television presenter with little political experience to be the public face of his relaunched Forza Italia party.
Aides to the Italian Prime Minister said that he had appointed Elisabetta Gardini, 47, because he believed she would enhance the party’s faltering fortunes and increase its appeal to women voters.
Some Forza Italia politicians, however, had urged Signor Berlusconi not to appoint Signora Gardini, and La Repubblica quoted one as saying the Italian leader had a “weakness for tall, slim, beautiful women with long legs”.
Forza Italia officials said Signora Gardini, best known for her career as a television variety show compere and roles in television drama and the theatre, would replace Sandro Bondi, the present spokesman. Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by Signor Berlusconi’s brother Paolo, said Signora Gardini had been chosen “by the Prime Minister personally” over other women candidates with a proven political track record.
These included Isabella Bertolini, the Forza Italia spokeswoman in Emilia-Romagna, Tiziana Maiolo, a Forza Italia councillor in Milan, and Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, a Senator from the Veneto and deputy head of the Forza Italia group in the Senate.
Signor Bondi dismissed the criticism as “malicious and unjust”.
“A spokesperson is someone who can best speak to the country on behalf of the party” he said. “Women have a capacity for communicating concrete matters with greater feeling than men.” He admitted that Signora Gardini came from “the world of showbusiness”, but insisted she had “always had a real passion for politics, in its most noble sense”.
Signor Bondi said that Signora Gardini, a devout Catholic from Padua and anti-abortion campaigner, had a “far more solid” political background than Lilli Gruber, the former television newsreader and war reporter elected as a Euro MP for the opposition in June on an anti-war platform.
Last September Signor Berlusconi made headlines during a visit to New York by suggesting to American businessmen that they should invest in Italy “because we have the most beautiful secretaries, superb girls”.
This month Signora Gardini, addressing a Forza Italia conference at Gubbio in Umbria, blamed television for “a culture in which women are judged by their appearance.”
She added: “All too often women are judged by whether they have a nice bottom, which is not even an erogenous zone”, a remark described by some other women delegates as “a subjective judgment”.
Elisabetta Gardini
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Oh, my. Whatever she's selling, I'll take two.
Che bella!
Silvio's a shrewd one....
Hey, it could be worse.
Regards, Ivan
This is a typo right? She looks about 27.
I swear, I swear Elisabeth Gardini is a dead ringer for Meg Ryan! The resemblance is uncanny!
I look about 30 my friend, even though I am a decade older.
I guess she saw enough enough of Ryan to be stopped asking, "hey are you the American actress?" LOL
On the other hand, she could be extremely well preserved. Like this other lady of Italian origin:
Or even:
Isabella Rosselini
Regards, Ivan
Sophia Loren. She was the most beautiful woman in the world before Catherine Deneuve came along.
.
.
Cool.
Could use a break from trolls, fonts, Kinkos, .....
Regards, Ivan
Gonna suit up in blue velvet jammies while you reload THAT pic!
She looks like a wonderful choice.
Ivan - I take it she's Berlusconi's bit on the side?
BigB - I thought it prudent that you be pinged to this thread post haste! ;-)
I don't think she is. I do think however, he does like having eye candy around.
Regards, Ivan
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