By STACY MEICHTRY
ROME -- As leaders of the Group of Eight leading nations prepare to converge on the mountain town of L'Aquila, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is seeking to head off potential problems -- both natural and political.
L'Aquila, the site of a devastating earthquake in April, continues to tremble with seismic activity, prompting Italian officials to ready an evacuation plan for U.S. President Barack Obama and other G-8 leaders. Summit organizers are arranging accommodations for thousands of government officials and journalists in police barracks and hotels.
Mr. Berlusconi's top advisers, meanwhile, are bracing for a different kind of jolt: More unflattering media reports about the prime minister's personal life. On Sunday, Mr. Berlusconi's office issued a statement warning that any news organization that publishes unauthorized photos during the G-8 of the prime minister's private life could face legal action, including civil and criminal complaints. "We're trying to prevent a crime from being committed," Niccolo Ghedini, Mr. Berlusconi's lawyer, said in an interview. "If you knew someone was trying to shoot you, I imagine you'd call the police."
For months, Mr. Berlusconi has been under pressure from critics -- ranging from members of Italy's left-wing opposition to his own wife -- who question the premier's penchant for hosting young women at his private residences. Photos of women sunbathing and partying at Mr. Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia -- published in various newspapers and on the Internet -- have caused a media and political controversy in Italy over the past months.
Mr. Berlusconi remains popular in Italy, where he benefits from weak political opposition and broad support among voters who have grown relatively accustomed to his public flirtations with women. Last month a poll showed his approval rating has slid only two percentage points to 49% since May. At a recent news conference in L'Aquila, the premier dismissed his critics, adding that "Italians like me this way."
Nevertheless, an Italian diplomat said Mr. Berlusconi's troubles risked overshadowing Italy's foreign-policy agenda, adding that he hopes the G-8 could be an opportunity to turn the page. "We'd like to bring things back to serious business," he said.
Last week Gianfranco Fini, the speaker of Italy's Parliament, called on the public to respect Mr. Berlusconi "like any other leader." Italian President Giorgio Napolitano pleaded for a G-8 cease-fire. "At this moment, my hope and my wish are for a truce in the controversies," Mr. Napolitano said.
Yet some of Mr. Berlusconi's critics have already begun to zero in on the G-8 summit to sharpen their criticism of the premier. A group of women professors at universities across Italy issued an open letter last month calling on the wives of G-8 leaders to boycott the summit. "We feel deep indignation, as women committed to academics and culture, for the way women are treated in public and private by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi," the letter states.
Beyond Italy's borders, some analysts said the controversy around the prime minister could leave other leaders in doubt about how to react. Ulrike Guèrot, a political analyst who heads the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces re-election in September, should exercise particular caution, given Mr. Berlusconi's propensity for playing pranks in front of cameras. "You have to be careful which photos you take with Berlusconi in the context of the German election," she said in a phone interview.By moving the summit to L'Aquila, Mr. Berlusconi aimed to focus the world's attention on efforts to rebuild the city. With just days before the start of the summit, however, there are signs that the change of venue has become a costly distraction to rebuilding efforts. Much of the L'Aquila's historical center remains without running water or electricity. Thousands of residents remain in tents outside the city.
On Friday, L'Aquila was hit by an aftershock with a magnitude of 4.1. Italy's civil-protection agency has begun running evacuation drills designed to ferry G-8 leaders to safety in the event of a strong aftershock. Mauro Dolce, a Civil Protection official who is monitoring the tremors, said he expects the region to experience as many as 20 tremors a day during the summit with magnitudes between 1 and 3.
Last week, Mr. Berlusconi met reporters inside the cocktail lounge of a cruise ship docked in Naples to discuss the G-8 preparations. The well-tanned premier welcomed Mr. Napolitano's call for a truce during the summit. Mr. Berlusconi also denied that his personal troubles were beginning to unhinge his government, which he described as "the most stable in the Western world."
"Davide Berretta contributed to this article.
Se anche la Merkel schifa di farsi fotografare con Berlusca per paura di ripercussioni negative sulla prossima campagna elettorale tedesca, annamo bene....
) al posto dell'Italia nel G8.... 
