L'Aquila, Italy  - US president-elect Barack Obama is once again the subject of a questionable compliment from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

During a Sunday press conference, Berlusconi told reporters that "We would all like to be tanned as brown as Naomi Campbell and Barack Obama," reported the Italian news agency Ansa.

Nonetheless, Berlusconi's comments seemed to stem from genuine envy for the complexion of Obama, the first African-American to be elected US president.

Earlier this month, Belusconi in remarks at a press conference together with Russian President Dimitry Medvedv, had said Obama was "young, handsome and suntanned," unleashing a storm of international outrage toward the gaffe-prone Italian politician.

Indeed, some Italians seem so dismayed by Berlusconi's utterances that they've created a website to relay the message that "I'm an Italian, but Silvio Berlusconi does not speak in my name." (dpa)