The escort at the heart of a sex scandal involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave graphic details of their alleged lovemaking in a book published on Tuesday and said she had been attacked and threatened since.

Patrizia D'Addario, in her memoir entitled "Enjoy, Prime Minister", describes a party held at Berlusconi's Rome residence, Palazzo Grazioli, and gives intimate details of a night spent with the 73-year-old premier in a bed given him by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

D'Addario, 42, whose allegations convulsed Italy when she first came forward in June with audio recordings of a man she said was the prime minister, describes how Berlusconi surrounded himself with dozens of young women like a "harem", whom he cuddled and kissed.

"Being an escort, I thought I'd seen lots of things, but not this: 20 girls for just one man," she says in the book, due in bookstores this week. "Here the other men had no say. There was just one man with the right to copulate: the prime minister."

The prime minister's office said it had no comment to make on the publication of the book.

D'Addario, who said she hoped Berlusconi would "change her life" by backing her plans to develop a hotel complex, said he showed guests two hours of videos about himself. At one point in a campaign video, they burst out singing his election anthem "Thank goodness for Silvio".

Another evening in November, Berlusconi sent the other guests home early and took D'Addario on a tour of the palace ending in his bedroom, she said. After showering, Berlusconi entered in white silk pyjamas and dressing gown, and they had sex, she said.

REAL ESTATE PROJECT

D'Addario was paid to attend the party by Bari businessman Giampaolo Tarantini, who is under investigation for activities including supplying prostitutes to local politicians.

Italian newspapers have quoted Tarantini as acknowledging that he helped procure female guests for dinners and parties at Berlusconi's house but as saying Berlusconi did not know they were prostitutes.

D'Addario said Tarantini promised that the prime minister would help with her real estate project but that no such help materialised.

Berlusconi has publicly said he was not aware that D'Addario was a call girl, but has never explicitly denied their night together, admitting that he is "no saint".

The scandal broke in June, shortly after news of Berlusconi's relationship with an 18-year-old aspiring model, Noemi Letizia, which prompted his second wife Veronica Lario to seek a divorce. Lario said he "frequented minors" and was "ill".

Berlusconi has denied any kind of "steamy affair" with Letizia and says they were simply friends.

D'Addario said she felt pressured into going public with her recordings and allegations after a series of threats and attacks. She says her house was robbed by thieves who took her clothes, phone book and computer, but left her expensive television set.

She said that on three occasions men claiming to be police forced their way into her flat, hitting her and on one occasion trying to rape her. A stranger punched her elderly mother in the face, saying: "This will teach your whore of a daughter."

She taped some anonymous phone calls where she was called a "whore and a bitch" and one caller threatened to kidnap her daughter. She also alleged that a car tried to run her off the road. D'Addario said she had reported the incidents to police.

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