A few days before the G8 Summit began in L’Aquila, Italy, there began to be rumors of some kind of international incident just waiting to happen. L’Auila was the town hit hard by an earthquake in April, and the community is still devastated, and totally unprepared to host a major international conference. The preparations for the summit were described as “chaotic” and “just awful”. Apparently, Italian president Silvio Berlusconi didn’t care about little things like “planning”. So news coming out of the summit has been a little weak. Something about the environment, blah, blah, Iran, et cetera. But most people don’t care about the issues, we care about the photo ops! And the first ladies of the G8 countries provided the ultimate photo op – except for, you know, Germany, since Angela Merkel doesn’t have a “First Lady” per se. Michelle Obama, Sarah Brown a bunch of the first ladies toured the remaining post-earthquake devastation in L’Auila. Good photo op, right? Not so much, as it turned out.

That’s when George Clooney strode into town on his shiny white steed to save the day! “Just hours” after the first ladies left the devastated area, Clooney arrived to do his part to “draw attention to this tragedy”. He also told reporters that he planned on filming scenes for a new movie there, to “lend a hand and boost the economy”. But that was the point of the summit, Clooney!

L’AQUILA, Italy — For this earthquake-ravaged city, Michelle Obama’s visit, a day after her husband’s, was more than enough star power. But then someone else came to town, arguably one of the few people on earth capable of upstaging the first couple.

On Thursday, the actor George Clooney touched down by helicopter and was carried off in a police-escorted motorcade, traveling just like the world leaders in town for the Group of Eight summit meeting. He arrived at the main square just hours after Mrs. Obama and other first ladies toured there.

He was more hands-on than the first ladies, who got closer to the buildings than to local residents. But then Mr. Clooney — and the actor Billy Murray, who came along, too — did not have the Secret Service watching their backs.

When Ms. Obama visited downtown L’Aquila, she greeted firefighters and nodded solemnly as she looked at the ruined church of the Anime Sante, whose dome — cracked wide open — has given it a sort of star status among the city’s devastated monuments. Among the other first ladies taking in the scope of the damage was Sarah Brown, the wife of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s wife was not in attendance — she is busy divorcing him — so the delegation’s hosts were Italy’s equal opportunities minister, Mara Carfagna, and education minister, Maria Stella Gelmini.

“The only way that people who are famous can help is by bringing attention,” Mr. Clooney said, nodding to dozens of journalists, with their cameras and microphones, corralled behind a metal protection barrier.

He mentioned the refugee camps in Darfur and the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, two causes to which he has donated time and money. “I’m not very good with stoneware,” he added, referring to his inferior skills as a mason.

Mr. Clooney, who later visited residents in a tent camp, said he would return in September to Abruzzo, the central Italian region whose capital is L’Aquila, to shoot a film by the Dutch director Anton Corbijn.

He said he hoped the film would inject some money into the local economy. “You have to help people get going again,” he said. “The people we’ve spoken to aren’t looking for a hand out, they’re looking for a hand up, they’re looking for help, they want to go home.”

But Mrs. Obama and her group got more of a certain kind of attention. On the outskirts of the historic center, held back by a line of police in light riot gear, a small group of protesters chanted: “The last ladies, the last ladies.” They said they were angry that the visit of the first ladies had caused the cancellation of a demonstration lobbying for more housing since the earthquake.

“We’re really the last ladies, we’re not taken into consideration and it’s not right that they treat us this way,” said Silvia Catteddu. “In the end, we’re interested in the city,” she said. “We don’t really care about the G-8.”

[From The New York Times Arts Beat Blog]

Some sources have George Clooney getting a much better reception than the first ladies. Italians really adore him for some reason. I mean, I love Clooney too, but it really seems to be specific to Italians and specific to George Clooney in this case. Is it just because George bought the Lake Como place? Is it because he may have quietly fathered some half-Italian bambinos with some busty Italian waitresses? I kid, I kid. It was nice of Clooney to tour the area and lend his moral (and preemptive financial) support. Nobody can outshine George!

Update: Here are pics of Clooney and Bill Murray touring the earthquake hit town of St. Eusanio yesterday. Credit: BARM/Fame Pictures

Pictures are of Clooney in L’Aquila, Italy on 7/9/09 and in a car the night before in Lake Como with Bill Murray after going out to dinner with Murray and his parents Nina Bruce and Nick Clooney at “Il Gatto Nero” restaurant. The photo agency says “Among the diners was gorgeous Italian actress Manuela Arcuri, 32.” Does that mean she was there with Clooney or that she just showed up and inevitably got him on? Credit: LUCA SGRO /bauergriffinonline.com and OLYCOM/bauergriffinonline.com