Italy's Berlusconi says may have to slow down

MILAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said today he may have to slow down after a heart scare that has kept him in hospital for three days and prompted speculation about his political future.

The 70-year-old centre-right leader was released from hospital today after he fainted on Sunday while delivering a speech at a rally of his Forza Italia party.

He recovered consciousness a few minutes later.

Doctors identified an irregular heart beat but said there was no reason for concern and gave him a clean bill of health yesterday.

Berlusconi, who pledged from his hospital bed to address a political demonstration in Rome on Saturday, said shortly after being discharged that he might have to take it easier.

''Perhaps I'll have to limit my commitments because I have been overdoing it too much,'' a smiling Berlusconi told reporters as he arrived at his mother's house.

''When I do these Forza Italia meetings, there isn't only the speech, which often lasts one hour or more. They also want me to go to all the tables and shake hands, have pictures taken and write dedications,'' he said.

''So I go home tired and stressed at 3-4 in the morning and then I get up at 7:30.'' Alberto Zangrillo, the doctor who treated Berlusconi at Milan's San Raffaele hospital, said the politician had turned his room there into an office.

But he said Berlusconi needed to calm down and rest more.

''His body is like a Ferrari but he is driving it at a crazy speed. He must be careful, otherwise he risks skidding and going off the road,'' Zangrillo said in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper.

Berlusconi's aides have played down the health scare and said he would get straight back into the political fray.

But his collapse came as a shock for the centre right, which the billionaire media tycoon has dominated since entering politics in 1994.

Speculation that he might step aside had been smouldering even before Sunday's incident after pro-Berlusconi newspaper Libero quoted him as telling a dinner party he did not intend to stand again as prime minister.

Berlusconi has since denied the report.

REUTERS PB HT2102