Italian quake victim asks to live with Silvio Berlusconi

A man made homeless by April's earthquake in central Italy has asked Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to keep his promise and provide victims with lodging in one of his houses.

Antonio Bernardini, whose home in the mountain city of L'Aquila was destroyed, wrote to Italy's Civil Protection agency saying he preferred lodging in Berlusconi's luxurious sea-side Sardinian villa or his residence in central Rome, "if possible."

"This is not a provocation, but a legitimate request based on the statements of the prime minister," Bernardini said.



Thousands of people made homeless by the April 6 quake still live in temporary accommodation in hotels or tent villages. Bernardini said many were being exploited by unscrupulous hoteliers and felt little better than illegal immigrants.

"We find ourselves in conditions of weakness and inferiority," said Bernardini, whose elderly mother died just a month after he carried her from the wreckage of their house. "I live in a small hotel room far from my home town."

"Give us a concrete sign. If not me, then take in some other victims," he asked the prime minister.