From the billionaire’s playground on the Sardinian coast, the scandal threatening the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi has dripped south to the mean streets of Bari.

Revelations have moved attention beyond the yacht decks and private villas of the Costa Smeralda, to the southern Italian town, where prosecutors are investigating a distinctly less glamorous world of cocaine, corruption and call girls.

It is here, in this rough and ready province on the Adriatic coast that an inquiry has begun into alleged payments to escort girls to attend parties at the Prime Minister’s homes in Rome and Sardinia.

Prosecutors have widened the inquiry to include possible drugs offences. The investigation is the latest blow for Mr Berlusconi, who has faced weeks of scrutiny since attending the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, Noemi Letizia, in Naples. His wife said she wanted a divorce, claiming that he “frequents minors”.

Among those under investigation is Alessandro Mannavini, the former driver of Giampaolo Tarantini, 35, a Bari businessman who allegedly recruited women for Mr Berlusconi’s parties.

According to Italian reports, Mr Mannavini is being investigated for “possession and use of cocaine”, while Mr Tarantini faces allegations of “abetting prostitution”. There is no suggestion that Mr Berlusconi knew of drugs use and he is not under investigation by the Bari prosecutors.

The inquiry began after police reportedly intercepted phone calls by Mr Tarantini during a wider investigation into corruption charges against Tecno Hospital, the company he owns with his brother, Claudio, which supplies medical equipment to Bari hospitals. He claimed to know Mr Berlusconi in several wiretapped conversations, according to Italian reports.

However, the case took another twist this week, following explosive claims by a former model and escort girl, Patrizia D’Addario.

Not only does she say that she was paid to attend a party — and later spend the night — at Mr Berlusconi’s residence in Rome, she also says that the encounters were arranged by a “friend” named Giampaolo.

But the allegations that have provided most grist to the Italian rumour mill are her claims that she has deposited, “under lock and key” at the prosecutors’ offices in Bari, audio and video tapes allegedly recorded at Palazzo Grazioli, Mr Berlusconi’s Rome residence.

These, she insists, will prove her encounters with the Prime Minister. Both the videos and the audio tapes, which are said to have Mr Berlusconi’s voice on them, are being checked by prosecutors for authenticity. One is said to show his bedroom.

Unusually, for a woman who appears to have spent years seeking the spotlight as model, television showgirl, and — if she is to be believed — magician’s assistant, Ms D’Addario was nowhere to be seen in her home town, yesterday.

Neighbours in Via Trevisani said it was well known in the area that the single mother, 42, worked as an escort. Her late father, Francesco, was a pimp who, before his death several years ago, used to let one of the top-floor flats to a woman who ran a brothel.This week, a local news programme broadcast an old videoclip of Ms D’Addario as a fame-seeking 16-year-old at a nearby talent festival in 1984.

During her dance routine, her bikini slips to reveal her breasts, but five minutes pass before she appears to notice.

As for Mr Berlusconi, who yesterday attended the EU summit in Brussels, he has repeatedly dismissed the claims as rubbish. Antenna Sud, a local Bari television station, broadcast footage clearly showing Mr Berlusconi — who claims that he “does not remember” Ms D’Addario — greeting her with a broad smile as he arrived an election meeting in Bari on May 31. In the footage, he can be heard saying “Ciao” to her while she responds with “Auguri” — good luck. The footage also shows her being prevented from entering the election rally in a hotel, as she described this week to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini has laughed off Ms D’Addario’s claims. However, he was forced to clarify his comments after offending many Italian women this week by saying that “even if” the Prime Minister had spent the night with an escort girl, he had not committed a crime because he would merely have been “the end user”.

Women in the spotlight

Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model and actress at the centre of scandal. Berlusconi attended her 18th birthday party on April 26 and gave her a gold and diamond necklace; she is said to have attended a new year's party at Berlusconi's villa. He has not explained how he came to know her.

Patrizia D'Addario, a former model and escort, 42, who says that she was paid to attend Berlusconi's parties and has secretly filmed herself and Berlusconi in his bedroom.

Elisa Alloro, a slim, blonde former television presenter, 33, and author of We, Silvio’s Girls, who says that she has been invited repeatedly to Villa Certosa. “Every time is a privilege,” she says

Sabina Began, a former nude model who was named by the Italian press as the “queen bee” at Berlusconi's villa parties. Reported to have sat on his knee at a party celebrating his 2008 election victory while he sang the Napoletan song Mala Femmena (Bad Woman)

Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi's wife, 53, who announced on May 3 that she was seeking a divorce because she "could not stay with a man who frequents minors"

Source: Times database

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