The photos came to light amid a scandal involving Berlusconi and Naples model Noemi Letizia, whose 18th birthday party the prime minister attended several weeks ago. Berlusconi's wife cited his attendance at the party in announcing she was divorcing the 72-year-old.
Berlusconi has denied any scandal, saying Letizia is the daughter of an old friend from political circles and that he attended her birthday party because he was in Naples that day. He has accused the center-left opposition of grabbing onto the gossip to try to discredit his party before European Parliament elections this weekend.
Berlusconi repeated yesterday that there was nothing "spicy" in his relations with Letizia and said he would resign immediately if someone could prove otherwise.
"If someone can demonstrate that the premier perjured himself, the premier would have to resign and hide himself the next minute," he told state-run RAI radio.
Letizia's former boyfriend has said Letizia and several other young women spent a week at Berlusconi's Sardinian villa over New Year's and that he listened in on phone calls between Berlusconi and Letizia, fueling speculation about an inappropriate relationship between the two.
Photographer Antonello Zappadu shot hundreds of photos of the party from outside the villa's gates - photos that were seized by Rome prosecutors last week at Berlusconi's request. But Zappadu said he had already sold the rights to the photos outside Italy, possibly explaining their publication by El Pais.
Berlusconi has denounced the paparazzi for what he has said was an invasion of his privacy - a charge he repeated yesterday after El Pais published the photos.
