It could only happen in Italy and of course it had to be the Berlusconis. Picture the delicious beauty of the latest instalment of the Silvio Berlusconi soap opera: His wife, Veronica, upset at her husband's flirtation with two younger women at an awards ceremony whilst she, good, long-suffering wife that she is, was quietly tending home and family, decides to vent her anger publicly. She writes an open letter to a newspaper, not just any old newspaper mind you but the newspaper of the other side, to the enemy camp so to speak, demanding a public apology from her husband for his betrayal. And she gets it: A wonderful grovelling apology by fax to the press, sealed with a kiss. In true operatic style, Veronica retreats to a convent to ponder whether she should accept her husband's apology. We wait with baited breath for the next instalment. Will they kiss and make up or will it be divorce court?

The cynics are divided. Why now and why over a relative misdemeanour? After all she is not accusing her husband of cheating - something she has had ample opportunity to do over the course of their marriage - but of being disrespectful. He flirted, he told another woman, "I would marry you straight away if I was not already married" and a second woman, "I would follow you anywhere." The real Mrs. Berlusconi felt diminished, her husband's comments had attacked her dignity. She asked for an apology in private. When she didn't get one she turned to the press. Was this a publicity stunt to restore Silvio Berlusconi's image as virile and fit? He is 70 years old, he has recently had a pacemaker fitted, and the last image the public had seen of him was his collapse during a speech. With one exchange of letters, he is back in the headlines, all smiles and charm, relieving Italians of the boredom of political life without him.

Or is it the revenge of the betrayed wife? Is Veronica planning her exit? Is this all an elaborate mise-en-scene for the divorce to come?

The Berlusconis are no ordinary couple. Veronica was once an actress. In fact Silvio Berlusconi first laid eyes on her at the theater, at a play entitled The Magnificent Cuckold no less. In this play, the beautiful and nubile Veronica Lario, as she was then, performed a strip tease. Mr. B was instantly smitten. Though he was married at the time this did not stop him from starting an affair with the young Veronica. Twenty-seven years on and three children later, the couple are married but rarely spend any time together. They live in separate homes, go on holidays separately and almost never appear in public together.

Veronica Berlusconi has been a model wife for the flamboyant Berlusconi. She has made an art of turning a blind eye, keeping herself ensconced in her own world and avoiding the glare of the media. More than anything she has been noted for her silence. But do not take her for a bimbo; behind the wall of silence is a formidable woman. With quiet assurance she has let the world know she differs with her husband. She was against the invasion of Iraq. Her politics is significantly to the left. Her tastes differ from his too, preferring serious drama to his love of musical comedies. Their children are adults now. With so little in common and such diverging lifestyles, has Mrs. B decided the time has come to move on?

Whatever her reasons, she has been applauded the world over for taking her husband to task. There is something noble in reproaching him for flirtation rather than infidelity. Flirting is the first betrayal. When a woman sees her husband flirt with other women it cuts deep, it leads her to feel diminished and unappreciated. As Veronica Berlusconi rightly pointed out it damages a woman's dignity. Yet so many men do it with little thought or understanding of its consequences. It's not cheating, it's just harmless fun. Or to quote her husband, it's just being a "red-blooded man around beautiful women".

So we wait to see what happens next but when the titillation of the public nature of their spat dies down, what remains is the sad truth. This is clearly an unhappy marriage. Veronica Berlusconi has put up with an erring husband for years, a husband who has done more than flirt with a couple of younger women - something her letter clearly alludes to. Yet she is still married to him. Yet to get his attention, to get his respect, she had to lay herself bare to the world.

But what is most depressing about this saga is that here we have a woman who has options and yet for whatever reason she feels tied into an unhappy marriage. There are millions of women around the world who are unhappily married - to husbands who beat them up, cheat on them, or betray them in other ways - and yet see no way out. Women for whom divorce would mean they are thrown out of the conjugal home and are homeless. Or women for whom divorce would mean separation from their children. Or women whose families force them to put up with violence and abuse in order not to dishonour the family name. Or women simply too frightened to leave. Divorce should be a last resort, but it should also be a viable option for a marriage that has irretrievably broken down. No woman should feel obliged to put up with a miserable marriage, and yet so many women do.