Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has called Barack Obama "tanned" again despite coming under fire for using the term before to describe the first black US president.

This time, Berlusconi also used the term to describe First Lady Michelle Obama during an event for his conservative party in Milan Sunday after he returned from the US city of Pittsburgh, where he attended the G20 summit.

The gaffe-prone Italian leader told ministers and supporters of his party: "I must bring you greetings from a man whose name is, whose name is ... wait, it was someone tanned: Barack Obama!"

"You won't believe it, but two of them went to the beach to sunbathe because his wife is also tanned," he said, prompting applause and laughter from the crowd before discussing last week's G20 summit.

The opposition slammed Berlusconi as racist last year when, shortly after Obama won the US election, the Italian premier said: "He is young, he is beautiful and he is tanned."

Berlusconi dismissed the criticism, saying he was merely making a "compliment."