Support for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is slipping, according to a new poll that has coincided with poor ratings for a TV appearance which the opposition said showed the Italian public was "tired" of him.

In prime-time television ratings, a current affairs show with Mr Berlusconi handing over houses to earthquake victims in L'Aquila was beaten by a Mafia series on one of his own channels called Honour and Respect - an irony not lost on his critics.

The 72-year-old media tycoon's reputation has suffered since May when news that his wife wanted divorce because of his womanising triggered scandalous revelations, including a businessman paying women to sleep with Mr Berlusconi.

He now dedicates most of his public utterances to dismissing such charges and attacking the media, saying yesterday there were "too many scoundrels" in the Italian media and politics. The special edition of Porta a Porta with Mr Berlusconi in the studio as star guest scored a 13.5 per cent audience share, compared to the show's average rating of over 18 per cent. The Mafia series scored 22.6 per cent, or 5.7 million viewers.

Centre-left senator Luigi Zanda said this was because "Italians are tired of hearing him insulting all and sundry".

The opposition, thrashed in an election last year that made Mr Berlusconi prime minister for the third time, was also cheered by a poll showing a steady decline in Mr Berlusconi's popularity.

The poll by IPR for La Repubblica newspaper - which he is suing over its critical coverage - put his approval rating at 47 per cent versus 49 per cent in July and 60 per cent a year ago.

Other recent surveys show support waning especially among practising Roman Catholics who disapprove of his lifestyle and an attack by a Berlusconi family newspaper on the editor of a Catholic paper who had criticised the prime minister.