Berlusconi hopes attack can heal Italy's wounds

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi left hospital yesterday four days after suffering a violent assault, saying he hoped the attack would usher in a new era of dialogue in Italian politics.

The 73-year-old leader, a small bandage on his nose and a large compress on his left cheek, was seen leaving the hospital in a black sedan, waving through the rear window to reporters crowded at the hospital gates.

Shortly afterwards the convalescent billionaire issued a statement appealing for calm and dialogue, saying he hoped the attack could teach Italy's political leaders a moral lesson.

"If, after what happened, there is a better awareness of the need for calmer and more honest language in Italian politics, this pain will not have been for naught," he said.

Mr Berlusconi's assailant, a 42-year-old described by police as having a history of mental problems, hit him in the face with a replica of Milan's iconic cathedral on Sunday.

Passions have run high since then, in parliament, in the street and on the internet, with the political left and right accusing each other of creating a "climate of hatred" that provoked the assault.

But the flamboyant leader said his days in hospital left him feeling "loved" by the Italian people.

"I will have two memories from these days (in hospital): the hatred of few and the love of many, so many Italians," he said. "Neither the violence of stones nor the worse violence of words... will prevail" in Italy.

"These last days I have felt that even some political opposition leaders have come closer," he added.