Ex-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been heckled as he arrived to begin a year's worth of community service at a hospice.

He has been ordered to volunteer at the residence for Alzheimer's patients near Milan as a punishment for tax fraud.

The billionaire businessman has also had to give up his passport and is under a nightly curfew.

The former Italian Prime Minister was sentenced to four years in prison last year, which was later commuted to four hours per week in the care centre.

The care home says Mr. Berlusconi (77) will be treated like any other worker and has been reading up on Alzheimer's in preparation for his service.

Late last year he was expelled from the Italian parliament there following his tax fraud conviction. He was banned from the parliament and elections for two years.

It paves the way for his arrest over claims he paid for sex with an underage prostitute - although his lawyers think that is unlikely.