This Europe: La Dolce Vita? No, but Berlusconi remains on song at his opulent holiday hideaway

He has penned an album of ballads, discussed on the telephone the prospect of war in Iraq with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, followed a strict diet and jogging regime, and still found time for a little pruning. Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has not wasted his summer holiday.

According to his co-writer and resident minstrel, Mariano Apicella, Mr Berlusconi is to release his album of 12 Neapolitan ballads at Christmas. He composed the lyrics to Mr Apicella's tunes in the dining room of his villa in Sardinia. Italians had a taster of the record, which will be called A Song is Better, when Mr Apicella played a couple of songs on television last week.

Mr Apicella, a former car-park attendant and spare-time musician, met the Prime Minister, who started his own career as a cruise-ship crooner in the Fifties, just over a year ago when he was performing in a restaurant where Mr Berlusconi was eating. Admiring his talents, the premier invited him to Sardinia to entertain his guests. "I owe everything to Berlusconi," says Mr Apicella. The Prime Minister is "a romantic who loves music as he loves nature".

In Villa Certosa, the largest of Mr Berlusconi's five villas on the exclusive Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, the Prime Minister played host to friends and colleagues. On the 40-hectare spread is a private beach, a fitness centre, tennis court and cinema.

Among those to enjoy the facilities were Mr Putin's two daughters, Masha, 18, and Katya, 17. The two, looked after by Mr Berlusconi's daughter, Barbara, who learnt Russian at school, were invited for several weeks, embarking on boat trips and visits to nightclubs.

But the guests report that they had to fall in with a strict regime. The Prime Minister and media tycoon, apparently anxious to lose a little weight, invited guests for a so-called week on an empty stomach. This involved seven days on a high-protein and vitamin-rich diet, meditation, studying classical literature, and plenty of sport – tennis, swimming and lots of jogging.

Emilio Fede, a television director who was one of the guests, proudly announced that he had lost 2kg (4.4lb) on his holiday.

Mr Fede particularly admired Mr Berlusconi's botanical knowledge. "He has at his fingertips the names of all the plants and all the flowers," he said. "Often in the morning he personally prunes some of the plants."