I am going to have to look up the articles and comments made at the time. I remember I was in Wyoming at the time and could not participate in the festa of Berlusconi's demise.

However, this meme of some sort of putsch was proposed immediately by a foreign reporter who had not been on the ground here in Italy long enough (some cute green kid who had already written trite articles before). And it was characterized as a European ouster that did concern the famous letter.

This completely misses the point since Berlusconi was already politically dead for all of the corruption scandals and his criminally relevant sexual escapades. By dead, I mean simple parliamentary numbers. His coalition had collapsed and was under no condition to pass legislation. There were purges, followed by intense smear campaigns against his ex-allies and there were defections on a daily basis. His government was paralyzed by infighting and all that was needed was a vote of confidence to take him out. His closest collaborators, emboldened by popular mandate, ran a system of capillary corruption only to find themselves all under investigation for numerous serious crimes. Given his personality, he chose to resign rather than affront parliament.

As for the letter in July, it must be put in context. Berlusconi's government and his parliamentary coalition were in disarray already for quite sometime, incapable of making important political decisions or even carry on daily business. Further his minister of economy, Giulio Tremonti, was totally inadequate for his role. Considering that the state was drifting about without a rudder for some time, the letter was perfectly normal, however blunt and irritual it was.