ROME - ITALY'S billionaire leader Silvio Berlusconi may sell his lavish Sardinian villa made famous by lurid photos of cavorting women, a news report said on Wednesday.

Abu Dhabi's crown prince might take the property off the prime minister's hands for some 450 million euros (S$932 million), the leading daily Corriere della Sera reported under the headline 'The emir likes Villa Certosa.'

The daily said Claudio Giuntoli, the prime minister's point man for property deals, would not confirm or deny the rumours. It said the prime minister was 'embittered' by the photographs published by the Spanish daily El Pais showing topless women as well as a nude former Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek poolside at the sprawling villa on Sardinia's Costa Smeralda.

The pictures emerged in June soon after a scandal erupted over Berlusconi's attendance at the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, prompting his already estranged wife Veronica Lario to seek a divorce.

Sheikh Mohammad bin Khalifa al-Nahayan is the son of Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

Villa Certosa sprawls over some 80 hectares, with three villas, seven swimming pools and a park that includes a lake, artificial volcanoes and thousands of palm trees, cacti and rare plants maintained by a team of 20 gardeners, according to Corriere.