Has Berlusconi a spider phobia?

[Kellanved]

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Put international diplomacy and high politics aside. The real question Italians want answered is whether their prime minister is afraid of spiders.

He may be a self-confident billionaire capable of putting a brave face on any situation, but if a new law is anything to go by, Silvio Berlusconi is terrified of arachnids.
The Senate on Monday rushed through a decree banning scorpions, tarantulas and various other venomous eight-legged creatures from being brought onto Italian soil.

...

A carton of 300 lethal scorpions was flown into Milan earlier this year destined for an Italian collector of rare species and for a small pharmaceutical laboratory.
The laboratory, according to La Stampa newspaper, sits just down the road from Arcore, Berlusconi's private residence on the outskirts of Milan, and there were fears some might escape and crawl into the villa's gardens.

"He was going on and on about how dangerous the little things were," Antonio Catricala, a senior official in Berlusconi's office, told the newspaper. "He insisted that a law be passed banning the importing of scorpions."

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/07/30/italy.berlusconi.spider.reut/