Italian press split over TV duel

Prodi and Berlusconi clashed in a televised debate on Monday

Italian newspapers are divided on who won Monday's televised debate between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his rival Romano Prodi.

Il Giornale, which is owned by Mr Berlusconi's brother Paolo, delivers no surprises in coming out in favour of the incumbent.

It contrasts "a Prodi who pretended to be as calm as camomile but was in fact a bag of nerves" with "a Berlusconi who was finally himself".

"Let's say it openly: Berlusconi won," it declares.

"Last time he lost concentration at the end," it acknowledges, "but yesterday he was a lion of a communicator".

'After the whistle'

The centre-left La Repubblica, equally unsurprisingly, disagrees. "Romano Prodi appears to have won."

Mr Prodi turned in "a good performance" and "was serene and determined", it believes, whereas Mr Berlusconi was "irascible and exasperated".

It concedes that Mr Berlusconi's promise to eliminate property taxes "did have an impact".

"But it probably came after the final whistle had been blown," it says.

The centrist La Stampa takes a similar view of the property tax announcement, commenting that the election result "now seems to depend on the extent to which Italians are still willing to believe Silvio Berlusconi's promises".

It goes on to praise the performance of Mr Prodi, who "conducted the debate as expected - calmly, with a certain detachment, and with great care not to be drawn into controversy".

Honours even?

Meanwhile, Rome's Il Messaggero suggests that honours were even after the debate.

Mr Prodi "seemed to have a firm grip on the ball" and "extricated himself from the fray of the tax debate", it says, but he faced "a more lucid Berlusconi who was less inhibited by the constraints of the allotted time".

But according to Italy's main broadsheet Corriere della Sera, the debate is unlikely to have swung many votes, regardless of who is deemed to have won it.

While this second televised debate "seemed livelier than the previous one", it says, "it doesn't appear to have managed to excite many of those who follow politics from afar and without interest".

"It's unlikely to have fired up many people to go out and vote," it concludes.

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