Toga party outrages austerity-hit Italians It has become the focus of a scandal over the lavish spending of taxpayers" money by politicians that threatens to bring down the regional government of Rome, dominated by Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party. Prosecutors in the capital have launched an investigation into the scandal, which has already forced the resignation of one senior politician, Francesco Battistoni. His predecessor, Franco Fiorito, 41, is suspected of embezzling at one million euros and spending the money on a portfolio of properties, including villas on the Italian coast, apartments in Rome and holiday homes in Tenerife. He denies any wrongdoing but has in turn accused eight other politicians of fraud. Records obtained by the Italian press showed that politicians spent extravagantly on restaurant meals, hotels and helicopter trips. Prosecutors said there was "chaotic management" of the party's finances and that few controls were imposed on how the money was spent. The head of the regional government, Renata Polverini, 50, reportedly spent 135,000 euros a year on her own dedicated photographer. Elected two years ago, she is now under pressure to resign. The toga party was held two years ago at Rome's Foro Italico, a sports complex built by Mussolini, but photographs of the event only emerged this week, apparently as part of a dirty tricks campaign by aggrieved politicians accused of graft. It was organised by Carlo De Romanis, 32, a member of the regional government, to celebrate his return home after eight years working for an MEP in Brussels. He insists that he paid for it out of his own pocket but it has become a potent symbol of the comfortable lifestyles enjoyed by Rome's politicians at a time when unemployment nationwide is over 10 per cent and austerity cuts are eating into people's salaries and pensions. Regional politicians earn a minimum of 13,000 euros, with expenses on top, and some can count on €30,000 a month - huge sums in a country where the average wage is about 1,300 euros a month. "It's an ugly business but it's always been like this in Italy," said Paolo, a taxi driver in the capital. All the parties have their noses in the trough, while ordinary people struggle to make it from one month to the next, especially these days. An influential Catholic newspaper, Famiglia Cristiana, compared the lavishness of the party to the last days of the Roman Empire, while parallels were also drawn with the 1969 film Satyricon, by Federico Fellini, which revolves around sex and corruption during the reign of the emperor Nero. "We are meant to satirise, but we have been outdone by reality, by what you see on the TV news every evening," a contemporary film director, Carlo Verdone, told La Stampa newspaper. The scandal is likely to damage Mr Berlusconi as his supporters urge him to stand for re-election as prime minister at the next election, expected in the Spring.