Thousands of Italian women marched in Italy carrying signs reading “Vecchio Porco!” (Old Pig!) and “Berlusconi Indegno” (Berlusconi is Unworthy!) to protest the behavior of Italy’s Prime Minister, not to mention his claim that he “makes every woman feel special”. Apparently not all Italian women agree.

Berlusconi is under investigation on suspicion he had sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl and used his office to cover it up. He denies wrongdoing. Berlusconi has claimed that he is “not worried” about a judge’s order that he face trial on charges he paid for sex with an under-age woman and abused his office to help release her from police detention for theft. The center-left opposition is calling for early elections, and political analysts say the government is not likely to last long. Time will tell if Berlusconi lasts in office or not. With the help of the media, much of which he controls, he has survived scandal before..

Prosecutors have focused on Berlusconi’s villa in Arcore, just outside Milan, where he reportedly throws wild parties with young women. Recently Berlusconi commented “For love of country I won’t talk about it. Suffice to say that I am not in the slightest bit worried.”

In January Valeria Fedeli, deputy leader of one of Italy’s largest unions, the Filcem-Cgil called on Italian women to march in the streets to demand respect. “Things had got so bad,” she says. “We could feel how annoyed, how indignant, people were. But there had never been a national day organized by women in Italy.

Once again the Internet played an important part in rallying people to protest. Using the Internet, Fedeli and a group of fellow organizers put out a call to action and women responded in the hundreds of thousands with some estimates as high as a million women taking to the streets and piazze of Italy.

For years Italy has condoned the behavior of Silvio Berlusconi in spite of accusations from his ex-wife that he threw wild parties where he engaged in sex with underage women. It seems that many Italians either admired the sexual prowess of their 73 year old Prime Minister or seethed in silence with no viable alternative to Berlusconi’s government.

As well as unveiling allegedly illegal sex, the investigation uncovered evidence of what many had suspected for years – that women who were pretty, dressed like dolls and were disponibili (willing to have sex with powerful men) could make millions and land jobs in positions of authority while most hard-working Italian women were struggling to make ends meet.

In the past, Berlusconi could count on women’s votes. ”He was a seductive leader,” says Flavia Perina, editor of the Secolo d’Italia, the official newspaper of the rightwing Futuro e Libertà party. “But now people have understood that the gallantry was hollow. He has said too many things against women.”

Now that a large part of the female population has shown that its tolerance has run out, Berlusconi’s chances of staying in power seem slimmer. He is set to appear in court on April 6, 2011,