Over the years Silvio Berusconi has taken more than a few figurative blows, but until today no one had actually landed one for real.
That all changed in Milan when Italy's prime minister was hit in the face and knocked to the ground by a man who, according to conflicting reports, either hurled a punch or a miniature metal souvenir of Milan's Duomo.
Berlusconi had been signing autographs and shaking hands with the public minutes after addressing crowds at a rally for his People of Freedom party in front of the Duomo when he was hit in the mouth.
He fell to the ground and was quickly ushered into a car by aides, but repeatedly tried to get out to show his bloodied face to the crowds and cameras in the square.
He was taken to a Milan hospital, where an x-ray showed he had suffered damage to two teeth. His doctor said he would be kept under observation for 24 hours.
"Berlusconi had a bag of ice over his face and appeared conscious," said a policeman in front of the hospital. The protester, 42-year-old Massimo Tartaglia, was taken for questioning by the police.
Condemnation of the attack arrived from all sides of the political spectrum. "What they did to Berlusconi was an act of terrorism," said Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League party and the prime minister's closest ally.
The opposition leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, said it was an "unspeakable gesture that must be firmly condemned".
Earlier in the evening Berlusconi had received a rock star's welcome at a rally to mark the opening of public membership to the People of Freedom party. Stating that his popularity stood at 63%, he listed the successes of the Italian government since he came to power, which he said had included saving the world economy by persuading the US government to intervene "after they had left Lehman Brothers to their fate" in order to avoid "the failure of 400 banks, saving the world from an incredible and tremendous crisis". He also credited himself with having halted the crisis between Russia and Georgia. "There were missiles aimed, we made them remove them," he said.
At one point he interrupted the rally to address a group of protesters on the sidelines, who had been chanting "buffoon" and "shame", saying they should be ashamed themselves.
"We would never (behave) like that," he told them.
Towards the end of the rally, he boasted that he was still "young and on form", opening his shirt to show the crowds that he "wasn't even wearing a vest", before he and a dozen ministers ended the rally with a singalong of the national anthem.
Minutes later, the flying Duomo put an end to what should have been the prime minister's evening of triumph.
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