"I’m really shocked by the behavior of my European friends, in the first place by Silvio Berlusconi... I’m so shocked. I feel betrayed. I don’t know what to say to Berlusconi... "

They were back slapping buds back in the day with a few things in common. The colonel allegedly explained 'bunga bunga' style orgies to Berlusconi. More on the meaning of bunga bunga here.

Last time the two got together in Italy Gaddafi showed up looking like a military pimp with his uniformed 'virgin' bodyguards in tow. The colonel literally stepped off the airstairs and into Berlusconi's open arms. The visit was as weird as you might expect. Gaddafi asked to meet with 700 Italian women from from "politics, industry, and culture". He not only considers himself a great lover but 'an emancipator of women'. I'm not sure if that includes the female western journalists who allegedly bartered sex-for-news. Accuracy in Media has more - here.

There were other arrangements. Berlusconi has on a number of occasions cast scorn on the idea of a multi-ethnic Italy. The treatment of so-called "boat people" by the Italian government has been harsh to say the least. Gaddafi played a role in keeping the 'undesirables' out.

Mother Jones:

In 2009, Qaddafi and Berlusconi made an agreement that became part of an open and often vicious campaign against migrants: Libya would try to keep them from leaving in the first place; if they got out, Italy would send them back to Libya without providing them a chance to make asylum claims.

In a 2009 Guardian article John Hooper shed light on some of the connections:

But the two leaders are connected by something other than political expediency. Their families have a common (and highly debatable) business interest.

In June, the small Italian news agency Radiocor reported that a Libyan company, Lafitrade, had taken a 10% stake in Quinta Communications, a cinema production company founded by a Tunisian-born but French-based entrepreneur, Tarak Ben Ammar. Lafitrade is controlled by the Gaddafi's family's investment vehicle, Lafico.

So far, so uncontroversial. Except that a) one of the other firms invested in Quinta Communications, with a stake of around 22%, is a Luxembourg-registered investment company owned by the Berlusconi family investment vehicle, Fininvest; and b) Quinta Communications and Mediaset, the Berlusconi-founded TV empire, each own a one-quarter stake in a new satellite TV channel for the Maghreb, Nessma TV.

Hooper points out that the deal amounts to "a pretty staggering conflict of interest." He adds "...by letting the colonel's minions into Quinta, Berlusconi and Ben Ammar have handed a share in the ownership of the station to the Libyan regime."

Last contact between the bunga bunga enthusiasts was a call from Berlusconi denying Gaddafi's claim that Italy had supplied rockets to the rebels. Gaddafi for his part told Il Giornale that he would only be prepared to do future business with Italy once Berlusconi has been swept from power. That's assuming of course the colonel's around to do business with anyone.

Check out a video tribute to a great love... gone... but not forgotten: