The usually smooth-talking leader also made several apparent slips that could cost him votes, such as insulting soccer star Francesco Totti for backing the centre left.
PHOTO FINISH?
Italy's morale has been battered by the struggle to find a buyer for loss-making airline Alitalia, a garbage crisis in Naples and a health scare over mozzarella cheese.
The International Monetary Fund sees the European Union's fourth largest economy growing at just 0.3 percent this year and it has the world's third highest debt pile in absolute terms.
Berlusconi and Veltroni both promised modest tax cuts to spur consumption. But the winner's ability to deliver this will be hampered by complex voting rules, introduced by Berlusconi, that make it hard to win a clear majority in the upper house.
Rome builder Luciano di Pasquale, 55, voted for Berlusconi because he believed the conservative leader was more likely to improve employment and wages. "I don't like the way Prodi governed and Veltroni is just more of the same," he said.
Ruggero Bianchi, 63, voted for Veltroni, who has the backing of Hollywood's George Clooney. "I have faith in the Democratic Party but I don't think the next government is going to last more than the last one," Bianchi said in Rome.
A third of voters were expected to decide at the last minute who to back. Many saw little difference between the platforms.
"I planned to vote for Berlusconi this time. But when I got inside the ballot box, I just couldn't do it," said 36-year-old Massimo Pavese in Turin. "I've always voted for the left."
He voted for Veltroni, but said: "He's got no chance of winning. His platform is practically the same as Berlusconi's and people are too disappointed with the Prodi government."
A close race could force the winner into a coalition with smaller parties. Veltroni and
