By Claudio Lavanga, NBC News Producer

PERUGIA, Italy – When a crowd of locals gathered in front of the court of appeals in Perugia on Monday evening, many journalists thought they were just curious residents there to witness the end of an appeal trial that, to some, had become a nuisance that disturbed the town’s idyllic peace.
 
But as soon as it became clear that the appeals court had overturned Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s murder convictions, there were cries of “Shame, Shame,” from a vocal few. The Knox family was whisked away by security.
 
For some in Perugia, the mood had changed overnight.

During the two weeks leading to the final verdict, journalists scouted endlessly for local opinion on the trial. With a city center about the size of Times Square, they ended up interviewing the same people twice, and sometimes, out of desperation, they turned the microphone on each other.  
 
The answer they would get from residents, in many cases, was one of resigned indifference. To them, the case was closed in 2009, when Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of all charges.

Perugia went back to being the quiet, medieval enclave where students partied until the wee hours of the morning on the city’s cobblestoned alleyways.  
 
Many residents were prepared for a slight correction to the sentence. A few years off here and there, perhaps. But they did not believe that Knox and Sollecito would be acquitted.

“It’s unbelievable,” a newspaper salesperson on Corso Vannucci said this morning while handing out papers – many of which sported front-page headlines that simply read: “INNOCENTS.”

Another local, Mario, who only gave his first name, approached our NBC News crew while we were filming in the city center Tuesday to offer up his opinion. “It’s outrageous. If she was tried in the United States with the same evidence, she would have been given a death sentence.”

Others here disagree. Amoi Amici, a bartender at a cafe across the square from the court of appeals, said, "I'm happy because I really believe they are innocent. They had nothing to do with it." 

The mood towards the media here was not so mixed. “What are you still doing here?” a well-dressed woman shouted at our NBC crew as we sat down for dinner at a local restaurant Tuesday. “Isn’t your job done?”
 
She, like some others around here, blame the American media for what they say was a pro-Knox campaign that influenced the jury’s decision.

One man on a Harley Davidson driving past the few TV camera positions left in front of the court house Tuesday slowed down and shouted: “GO AWAY!"

They will.

Crews from around the world are in the process of dismantling the media circus that turned this sleepy town into the center of the world, even if only for one day.
 
When the lights are off and the cameras gone, it will go back to being the secluded medieval fortress perched on a hill that will guard, maybe forever, the secret of what exactly happened to Meredith Kercher in the middle of the night on Nov. 1, 2007.  

By NBC News’ Claudio Lavanga  
The start of the debate in the Italian Senate over Berlusconi’s new austerity budget on Wednesday was always meant to be a predictable affair. In fact, it barely made the news – even in Italy. 

The $65 billion plan, scrapped together by a struggling Italian government in a desperate bid to balance the budget by 2013, is pivotal to the very future and stability not only of Italy but of Europe as a whole. The mix of tax increases and spending cuts was announced last week to satisfy the European Central Bank’s demands that Italy do something to correct it’s strained public finances.

So Italians are asking, why did only 11 out of 315 senators show up to discuss the measure on Wednesday evening? And why do just 0.016 percent of the proposed budget cuts apply to the political class itself?  
 
Attendance was not mandatory, but the en-masse absenteeism is viewed as a direct insult to the Italians who will bear the brunt of the new austerity measures forced upon them by the very politicians who dared not to show up to discuss the measures.

(You don't have to understand Italian to get this fun tour of the empty Senate the day before the debate from Corriere della Sera. "Tutto chiuso" says it all).

The empty senate chamber could be seen as a symbol of what’s wrong with the country, and cast some serious doubts over its chances of finding a political solution to an economic crisis that is threatening the existence of the euro and the stability of stock markets worldwide.

Summer time truancy
So what happened to the remaining 300-odd senators missing in action?

It is reasonable to suspect that most of them are still on vacation. It is the middle of August, a time when most of the country hits the beach; parliament, among other institutions, closes down for the summer.

There are surely plenty of excuses that might be offered up when the absent politicians roll back to town. Some might claim to have been on holiday at the Seychelles, and were so terrified by the shark that killed the honeymooner they could barely move. Others could claim to have taken an academic break in London, and to have fallen victim of the rioters who stole their plane ticket. A few could get away with one of the summer truancy classics: a bad sunburn, a nasty stingray sting, a water skiing accident.

Even though Wednesday was just the start of the debate over the plan and the vote will come later, very few, if any, will admit that they simply couldn’t be bothered to leave the beach even for a day to perform their duty in one of the most difficult economic times the country is facing since the Second World War.     

(Here is more video of the empty chamber "un Senato deserto").

Highest paid politicians in Europe
This attitude is symbolic of a privileged political class that has lost touch with its electorate and spends most of its time enjoying the benefit of being an Italian politician, without acting like one.

The numbers speak for themselves: At $20,000 per month, Italian members of parliament are the highest paid in Europe.

They earn twice as much as German politicians, to choose just one nearby country. In addition, they enjoy a long list of benefits from free, unlimited flights in business class within Italy to the use of state cars to a fine restaurant in the house of parliament that serves succulent beef steak for a mere 2 euros.  

The overall Italian political system, including parliamentarians salaries, benefits and expenses, costs $33 billion a year, according to the country’s main financial paper Il Sole 24 Ore.
 
The cost to the country, if politicians continue to act as spoilt and pampered upper-class with no sense of responsibility, could be much, much higher.

AP file

American student Amanda Knox looks at photographers during the recent appeal hearing in Perugia, Italy on July 25.

By Keith Miller, NBC News Correspondent

PERUGIA, Italy – You reach the ancient hill top town of Perugia by a series of winding roads through the rolling hills of Umbria, traveling past huge poplar trees planted like giant windbreaks. To call it picture-perfect would be an injustice. This is what every American exchange student probably imagines Italy to be like.
 
The favorable impression is reinforced by the warm-colored and weathered stones that make up the walls surrounding the town.
 
But those walls also envelop a place where history has on many occasions been cruel. And its modern judicial system is giving those ancient injustices a new twist, embodied in the form of American student Amanda Knox, who has done even more to put Perugia on the map than the local chocolate factory, Perugina, known for its silver wrapped “Baci” (kisses). 
 
There is little affection here for Knox, who has created a far greater stir than the annual international chocolate festival.
 
Portrayed in the Italian press as a spoiled and sexually promiscuous man eater, Knox, her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede, an Ivorian resident of Perugia, were convicted and jailed in 2009 for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British student and Knox’s roommate. Judges concluded that the killing came during a frenzied sex game that spiraled out of control.
 
People often ask if I think Knox is guilty of the murder she was convicted of committing. After three years of reporting on the crime, Knox’s trial and her punishment for the TODAY show, the answer is always the same: "I don't know if she is guilty, but I do know that the prosecution didn't prove it in court."

Circus-like trial
You can put that down to the inordinately inept Italian court system. As I responded when a reputable Italian newspaper reporter recently asked me my opinion on the proceedings: “I would rather be on trial in Cuba."
 
Add to that a plethora of lawyers, often working at cross-purposes. In this case, four legal teams, representing four different parties, were all taking a swing at Knox. On a given day the prosecutors’ table during the trial was more crowded than a popular pizza parlor
There were lawyers for the state, the victim’s family, an attorney representing a man accusing Knox of slander and an attorney for the convicted murderer Guede. Each had his say, and what they mostly said was conjuncture punctuated by sexual innuendo that would make Mae West blush. 
 
And I must not leave out the chief prosecutor in the case, Giuliano Mignini, a great barrel of a man with a full head of gray hair swept back in the fashionable style of the Italian middle aged male. He cut a formidable figure in court. But as he was prosecuting Knox for murder, he himself was on trial in Florence for abuse of prosecutorial power in a previous murder trial.
 
As Knox was writing in her journal to pass the time in prison, Mignini was shuttling back and forth to Florence to defend himself in court. He was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.
 
This blatant breech of ethics was greeted by silence in Perugia. Mignini carried on his prosecution of Knox with the zeal of an evangelical preacher.
 
A sex game gone wrong?
Throughout the case, this prosecution was all about sex. Mignini formed a motive for the murder of 21-year-old Kercher early and stayed with it till the end. It was, he said, "a satanic ritualistic sex orgy that led to murder."
 
The Italian and British tabloids went positively feverish. They went straight to Knox’s Facebook page, uncovering the lurid that supposedly simmered in the fresh-faced girl. And the nickname she was given at the age of 8, when she played a crafty game of soccer. “Foxy Knoxy” just about sealed her fate. 
 
On air I reduced the prosecution’s claim to "a sex game gone wrong." But at no time during the trial were there any facts presented to back up the claim.
 
Despite the complete lack of evidence to support his theory, Mignini conducted an imaginary dialogue between Knox and the victim as part of his closing arguments. Speaking for Knox, he imagined her saying to Kercher, "You’re behaving like a little saint. Now we will show you, now we will make you have sex."
 
The trial judge dismissing the sex game theory came up with his own motive suggesting Knox and her former boyfriend joined in attacking Kercher after they heard her screams as she was being molested by Guede. Not sex, but jealousy guided Knox, he said.
 
There was no evidence backing up this theory and no rationale, either. In the history of criminal prosecution, I doubt there is a single case where a person jumped at the chance to help a relatively unknown intruder in the dark of night, sexually assault and then stab a roommate to death. Never mind that the testimony delivered in court painted the relationship between Knox and Kercher as friendly.
 
So the trial in the absence of a rational motive came down to the DNA
 
Imagine for a moment a murder scene in a cramped student’s bedroom. A body on the floor, blood everywhere. There were bloodied hand prints on the headboard, cupboard and bloody foot prints on the floor.
 
All connected back to the man first convicted of the crime: Rudy Guede. 

 
Holes in DNA evidence
There was not a single piece of DNA from Knox or her former boyfriend found at the crime scene. The prosecution claimed they cleaned up any trace of being there, but were clever enough to leave behind the clues leading to Guede.
 
Two 20-somethings, admittedly stoned from marijuana, buzzed from too much booze and in the grip of a supposed sadistic sexual fever decided, "Oh dear, let's mop up the blood, extract the hairs and wipe away any bodily fluids before we make our getaway."
 
I don't buy it. Never did.
 
Then this week the prosecution’s case took a hit.
 
Independent forensic experts appointed by the court took the stand on Monday and attacked key pieces of the evidence used to convict them.  
 
The two court-appointed experts presented findings from a 145-page report they wrote after studying the DNA evidence.
 
The experts testified that a series of police blunders like not wearing protective caps and masks and allowing people to tramp in and out of the crime scene contaminated potential DNA evidence. 
 
They also raised questions about evidence concerning the murder weapon, a large, black-handled kitchen knife found at Knox's boyfriend’s apartment. Prosecutors had insisted that Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of the knife and that Kercher’s DNA material was found on the blade. The forensic experts testified Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of the knife, but said there was no DNA from the victim.
 
Another crucial piece of evidence – a bloody bra clasp belonging to the victim that allegedly had DNA from Knox's  boyfriend on it – was so badly handled that it was impossible to test, according to the forensic experts.

Stay tuned… 
Knox's mother Edda Mellas, a school teacher from Seattle, was in tears at the conclusion of testimony. The legal fees and cost of maintaining a transatlantic connection to her daughter has nearly bankrupted the family, but they stand by Knox's insistence that she is innocent.
 
Appealing a murder conviction in Italy can be tricky. The judge could impose an even harsher sentence, but Knox has two things going for her. When the appeals judge agreed to examine the evidence presented in the first trial, it was an admission that the evidence could be flawed.
 
It wouldn't be the first time. Around 50 percent of appeals in major criminal cases in Italy end with the conviction being over turned.
 
The next hearing is scheduled for Saturday when the experts face cross-examination. Stay tuned….

By NBC News' Claudio Lavanga

ROME – After months of speculation over the involvement of Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a prostitution ring made up of television starlets, runaway minors and social climbers, Italian investigators have formally requested a speedy and immediate trial for the embattled leader.

Investigators say the evidence that he paid for sex with an under-age Moroccan belly-dancer and used his influence to secure her release from police custody last May is so strong that they want to skip preliminary hearings and try him as soon as possible.

The decision by prosecutors came after details of the investigation, leaked to the media, have thrown Berlusconi’s government and his character into disrepute. The scandal has caused an uproar among Italian women, who organized demonstrations last Sunday against the culture of “sex for favors,” for which they say Berlusconi, 74, is partly to blame. 

Wiretapped phone conversations between some of Berlusconi’s house guests – sexy television starlets, suspected prostitutes, would-be stars, a faithful newscaster and a greedy talent scout – are meant to prove that the prime minister showered women with expensive  presents in exchange of sexual favors. While such behavior would have been at the very least inappropriate for a prime minister, it became a crime when it was revealed that one of the “party-goers” was a minor. In Italy, it's illegal to pay for sex with a woman under the age of 18.

Prosecutors claim that Karima El Mahroug, better known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer,” had sex with Berlusconi when she was 17 years old. A previously unknown runaway belly-dancer born in Morocco, she became a household name last December when it was revealed Berlusconi took the trouble to personally secure her release from police custody by falsely claiming she was the daughter of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. 

And yet to the amazement of his allies and the demise of his critics, the scandal-prone prime minister’s popularity among voters was only slightly dented, and his political survival contributed to reinforce his aura of invincibility. His unparalleled ability to find last-minute support and reassure his allies about the stability of his government have made sure he survived a n¬¬¬¬umber of recent parliamentary sessions widely seen as votes of confidence.

Opposition politicians who were hoping Berlusconi would be ditched by an already divided coalition, and the thousand of Italians who in the last few days demonstrated across the country under the common slogan “Italy is not a brothel,” will now rest their hopes in the prosecutors.

Berlusconi’s lawyers say he did nothing improper and that prosecutors are actually “violating the constitutional norms.”

Italian judges now have five days to consider the prosecutors’ request to indict Berlusconi for an immediate trial – a decision that might seal the prime minister’s fate and Italy’s political future.

For more on the Berlusconi scandal, click here: Naked Emperor: One sex scandal too many for Berlusconi?