Sunday's violent attack on the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has further polarised a sharply divided nation.

While nursing his wounds in hospital, the flamboyant 73 year-old played a populist card, urging his supporters to "stay calm and happy," adding: "Love always triumphs over hate and envy."

But passions have run high this week in parliament, on the street and on the internet.

On Wednesday the left and right continued a war of words, trading accusations of creating a "climate of hatred" that led Berlusconi's assailant to throw a model of Milan's cathedral at him, causing serious facial injuries.

The prime minister's centre-Right People of Freedom party put up posters in Rome saying "Enough Hatred", while the opposition Democratic Party's signs expressed "solidarity with Silvio Berlusconi after the vile aggression".

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