Italy's Berlusconi hospitalised over heart issues

Rome : Former Italian prime minister and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalised Tuesday for tests after suffering mild heart trouble at the weekend, media reports said.

"His hospitalisation was scheduled, his doctors wanted to perform a series of tests after the slight discomfort he experienced Sunday night, which was neither serious nor worrying," the AGI news agency reported, citing sources within his Forza Italia party.

Berlusconi, who turns 80 in September, was hospitalised in a clinic in Milan in northern Italy. He felt unwell on the evening of the first round of mayoral elections in several Italy cities, after voting for the first time in three years.

The ageing tycoon had been banned from casting his ballot following a conviction for tax evasion which saw him serve out his one-year sentence doing voluntary work in an old people's home.

Berlusconi, who has virtually dropped off the political radar in Italy, failed to rally votes for his centre-right party, which won just 4.23 percent of the vote in Rome, where the media mogul voted.

The one-time cruise ship singer turned PM, renowned for his party life, suffered a heart attack 10 years ago and had a pacemaker fitted then, which was replaced at the end of last year.