Barack Obama and Italy`s Silvio Berlusconi had a `long, cordial` telephone conversation Friday as controversy swirled over remarks by the Italian leader seen as insulting to the US president-elect.

Obama called Berlusconi and the two men confirmed the `close ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries (during) a long, cordial chat,` the prime minister`s office said in a statement.

The pair focused on Italy`s presidency of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations starting in January, the statement said.

The gaffe-prone Berlusconi sparked controversy on Thursday when he described the African-American president-elect as `young, handsome and even tanned` and warned that many awaited him practically as a `messiah.`

The comments drew a chorus of criticism at home and abroad, but especially from the left-wing opposition in Italy, whom Berlusconi dismissed as `imbeciles` before using a vulgar slang term used to convey the same idea.

Berlusconi bristled when asked at a news conference at a summit in Brussels why he did not apologise for the remarks, telling the journalist: `You, too, you put yourself on the list of those I spoke of yesterday (imbeciles). ... It is you who should be apologising to Italy.`

The Italian leader then swept out of the room.

`It`s disconcerting that (Berlusconi) didn`t realise the world impact of his umpteenth gaffe,` the deputy secretary of the opposition Democratic Party said Friday.

`Imagine (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy calling (opposition figure) Segolene Royal `coglione`,` Dario Franceschini told the ANSA news agency of the term, which literally refers to testicles.

A New York Times blog, The Caucus, was inundated by more than 1,000 comments, the vast majority from Italians embarrassed over the remark.

`I apologise to our American friends. Today I am ashamed to be Italian,` was one typical comment.

A handful defended the Italian leader. `It`s just a joke and we need to smile. Bravo Berlusconi!` said one.

The flamboyant self-made billionaire, who is himself permatanned, is known the world over for politically incorrect comments and gaffes.

While campaigning for elections in 2006, he famously said that Chinese people `boiled babies for fertiliser` during the Mao Zedong era.

In April this year, Berlusconi likened EU regulations to what `mosquitoes do on elephants` backsides, with little result but annoying all the same.`

Perhaps the most egregious remark was in July 2003 when the media tycoon told a German lawmaker, on the floor of the European Parliament, that he would be `perfect` in the role of a Nazi prison guard.

An editorialist in the Italian daily La Stampa on Friday mused that `If Berlusconi wanted to stand out among the thousands of congratulatory messages that Obama has received (since winning election on Tuesday), he succeeded in his way.`

Berlusconi said he expected to `work very well` with Obama, starting when the two meet on the sidelines of a November 15 Group of 20 meeting in Washington.

Obama takes office on January 20.