Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, is believed to be buying a neo-classical villa at Lesa on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, formerly owned by the family which founded the Campari drinks empire.

The move has raised eyebrows at a time when Italians are suffering from the credit crunch and taking fewer holidays. Mr Berlusconi already owns a mansion in Milan - which he is expanding - luxury seaside villas in Sardinia and Bermuda, and a Renaissance palace in Rome, among other properties.

Mr Berlusconi, 71, is currently renting the thirty-room Villa Correnti - named after Cesare Correnti, a hero of the nineteenth century Risorgimento, the struggle to unite Italy - while the deal goes through. No price has been disclosed.

Reports said the villa - known locally as the Villa Campari because it was owned by the Garavoglia family, which created the famous aperitif - was being bought in the name of Marina Berlusconi, the Prime Minister's daughter by his first marriage and an executive in his media empire.

He is retreating to Lake Maggiore, he has told his aides, because the privacy of Villa Certosa, his Sardinian estate at Porto Rotondo, is invaded not only by paparazzi but also by "a stream of visitors". Roberto Grignoli, the mayor of Lesa, said he welcomed Mr Berlusconi "with open arms" and hoped he would hold summits at the villa - rather overlooking the fact that the idea is to obtain peace and quiet.

It is not clear whether Mr Berlusconi's wife, the former actress Veronica Lario, who has her own villa near Milan and takes separate holidays, will also use the Lake Maggiore retreat. The marriage is said to have been under strain, not least since last year when Mrs Berlusconi demanded - and got - a public apology from her husband for his flirtations with other women, including the former TV showgirl Mara Carfagna, now a minister in his government.

However the glossy weekly magazine Chi has published a series of photographs over recent weeks of the Berlusconis hand in hand on Sardinia and at Portofino. The Prime Minister yesterday said reports of a divorce were "the usual lies. Veronica and I have not made peace simply because we were never at war".

La Stampa said Mr Berlusconi had spotted Villa Correnti in May while attending the wedding of the son of the veteran TV presenter Mike Bongiorno, who has a villa with a heliport nearby. Mr Berlusconi was heard to observe that, like Correnti, he hoped to be remembered as "someone who gave his all for the Patria."

He also said he intended to buy the villa to prevent "a piece of Italian history" falling into the hands of an Arab or Russian billionaire. Mr Berlusconi, who has a collection of rare cacti at his Sardinian estate, was impressed by the Villa Correnti's extensive grounds, filled with magnolias, laurels, azaleas, rhododendrons and lemon and olive trees.

Italian media noted that Mr Berlusconi's expanding property portfolio came as ordinary citizens were tightening their belts, with the price of pasta up by 25% in a year, bread by 13%, petrol by 31%, and water and electricity by nearly 9%.

Seaside resorts say visitors have fallen by 5% this year, despite special offers and reductions by beach concessions. Yesterday, the Lazio region - which includes Rome - said that hospital closures were on the cards because of a shortage of funds.

However Mr Berlusconi, a self made billionaire, said there was a "world wide" crisis caused by demand in countries with rising living standards such as China, India and Russia, and the 2009 budget passing through Parliament would give Italy a "boost". "We have to be optimistic," he said.

Opinion polls give Mr Berlusconi, who took office for the third time in May, an approval rating of 63%, with a majority of Italians agreeing he has moved fast in his first 100 days to pass decrees on crime and illegal immigration and to clear the centre of Naples - although, not its suburbs - of rubbish.

Last week, it emerged that he is to double the size of Villa San Martino, his mansion and 50 acre estate at Arcore, outside Milan, where he has built a marble mausoleum for himself, his family and close aides.

New buildings will provide accommodation for his children and grandchildren as well as housing his paintings, the archive of his Mondadori publishing house and a foundation named after his late father, Luigi, a banking official.

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