Mini-skirts reign as Italy bares showgirl obsession

By Deepa Babington

ROME (Reuters) - When it comes to political satire, Italians like theirs hot -- with buxom women in mini-skirts and low-cut tops dancing as cameras zoom in on their breasts and long legs.

So much so that the auditions for two showgirls -- known as "veline" -- to spice up the country's top satirical show are a summer-long television event in their own right, broadcast daily as prime-time family entertainment with top ratings.

More than 5,000 women in Italy applied for the two slots up for grabs -- one reserved for a blonde, the other a brunette -- with raucous auditions held in packed town squares across the country before throngs of beaming parents and onlookers.

The prize: a contract to spend the next year dancing in skimpy clothes and hopping on the desks of the male presenters of the "Striscia la Notizia" news satire on the Canale 5 network owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset empire.

Its portrayal of women aside, for critics the showgirl format is more worrying for what it says about Italian television. Program-makers say they are satirizing TV journalism, and some defend showgirls over violent shows.

In some other countries the format itself has been satirized out of fashion or lambasted by women's rights campaigners, but in staunchly Catholic Italy, "Striscia La Notizia" -- whose title translates as "Hot off the Press" -- has featured veline for two decades.

Their seductive jigs are paired with investigative reports into scams and spoofs of both right- and left-wing politicians and celebrities.

A top primetime show itself, it owes much of its success to its saucy veline -- whose name stems from the sheets of paper handed out by Fascist-era news censors.

Back on the airwaves after a four-year hiatus, the "Veline" program showcasing the search for a new pair shot to the top of summer ratings with more than 21 percent audience share, according to a poll for TV weekly Sorrisi e Canzoni.

In this year's auditions, contestants' "challenges" included being quizzed while jumping on a trampoline, singing while being doused with water from a kettle, or the crowd favorite: lapping up milk squirted from a baby's bottle from afar.

"Milk is good for you," teased the male host, as one hapless contestant wiped off the milk splattered on her face.

The evening's winner -- left soaking wet by the water kettle -- was emotional about making the semi-finals.

"When they put the crown on my head, I felt an adrenalin rush that I have never felt before in my life," said Cristina Buccino, who is also fascinated by astronomy and philosophy.

NOT MUCH CHOICE

For some the show is one of the more prominent examples of Italy's long-running obsession with showgirls and the endurance of a TV concept that has survived the reality show and other formats.