That is the real tragedy of Mr Berlusconi's storm-tossed venture into politics.

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Like many of his fellow tycoons, Mr Tanti has seen a big chunk of his paper fortune blown away in recent weeks on a storm-tossed stockmarket.

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But you can steal away from all that and refresh yourself in the cool and dark of the chapel beneath the Black Madonna and the lamps hung there by Crusaders and the bell that was said to ring miraculously every time storm-tossed sailors were saved by the Virgin of Rocamadour.

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And the people who should be the demanding employers -- the citizens -- are tossed about in the heavy waves of the political storm, as if they are mere bystanders who have no standing in all of this.

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