History UsefulNotes / RepublicanItaly

The the Cold War-era ''strategy of tension'' with its assorted intrigues, the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt, the increasing power of the Mafia in Southern Italy (just for starters) made the First Republic looking like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems. The collapsing value of the [[RidiculousExchangeRates lira]] as far back as 1957 led the government to pass various laws mandating the indexation of wages to inflation, which was extended in 1975 to create the "moving staircase" system whereby workers received an additional flat fee to automatically compensate them for three months' of price increases and quarterly wage revisions, making wages rise faster than prices. Combined with Italy's extremely generous welfare provisions, this meant that Italian workers were among the best paid, most protected, and best treated in Europe; the costliness of this system and state inefficiency later forced Italy to adopt harsh austerity measures to cope with the resulting rise in public debt.

In '''1994''', the TV magnate ''''Silvio Berlusconi''', richest man in Italy, became PM for the first time. His government, predictably, only lasted a couple of months. He still owns three national TV channels, as well as the AC Milan football club. He was reelected in 2001, then defeated fairly narrowly in the '''2006''' elections and replaced by '''Romano Prodi''', who had been PM before. In '''2008''', Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why (and how the hell) it happened; In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy (even moreso than usual). He '''resigned''' on '''November 14, 2011''' in favor of independent '''Mario Monti''', who chaired a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis. Then, he announced that he would run in the new elections after Monti's government '''collapsed''' due to a vote of no confidence on '''April 28, 2013'''.

Said 2013 elections ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself and the two traditional parties ('''PD''' and '''PDL''') nearly shrinked, while the '''Northern League''' collapsed after a series of scandals involving its founder and his son.

Said 2013 elections ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; the '''Five Star Movement''' asserted itself and the two traditional parties (PD and PDL) nearly shrinked, while the Northern League collapsed after a series of scandals involving its founder.

Said 2013 elections ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible; However, after much politicking, '''Enrico Letta''' was appointed PM.

In 1968 all came to an end. In that year, the student were rioting in every major Italian city and the so-called ''Autunno caldo'' ("Hot Autumn", a series of massive strikes), took place. As if that wasn't enough, a long period of tension and terrorism dubbed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_lead_(Italy) "The Years of Lead"]] broke out after the bombing of piazza Fontana, in Milan (1969), and culminated with the kidnapping and murder of the Italian PM Aldo Moro (1978) at the hands of a communist terrorist organisation known as the ''Brigate Rosse'' ("Red Brigades"). The assassination ended the "historic compromise", though the ICP condemned the Red Brigades and adopted a policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorist groups (the "Front of Firmness"). Add to all these the Cold War-era ''strategy of tension'' with its assorted intrigues, the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt, the increasing power of the Mafia in Southern Italy (just for starters), and the First Republic starts to look like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems. The collapsing value of the [[RidiculousExchangeRates lira]] as far back as 1957 led the government to pass various laws mandating the indexation of wages to inflation, which was extended in 1975 to create the "moving staircase" system whereby workers received an additional flat fee to automatically compensate them for three months' of price increases and quarterly wage revisions, making wages rise faster than prices. Combined with Italy's extremely generous welfare provisions, this meant that Italian workers were among the best paid, most protected, and best treated in Europe; the costliness of this system and state inefficiency later forced Italy to adopt harsh austerity measures to cope with the resulting rise in public debt.

After the Cold War ended (and thus the USA's interest in keeping left-wingers out of power vanished), the nepotism- and corruption-laden political system, dubbed "Tangentopoli" (Italian for "Bribeville") was exposed by the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite clean hands]]" investigations of 1992-1994. These involved a big part of the Senate and House and caused the collapse of the old dominant parties (except the Communists; they changed their name to the Democratic Party of the Left for other reasons--chiefly the fact that "Communism" had [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp become passe]]), the emergence of new parties in their stead, the adoption of a mixed member proportional representation electoral system, and generally had such a large impact that the period afterwards is called the ''Second Republic''.

In 1994, the TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi, richest man in Italy, became PM for the first time. His government, predictably, only lasted a couple of months. He still owns three national TV channels, as well as the AC Milan football club. He was reelected in 2001, then defeated fairly narrowly in the 2006 elections and replaced by Romano Prodi, who had been PM before. In 2008, Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why (and how the hell) it happened. In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy (even moreso than usual). He has recently resigned in favor of independent Mario Monti, who is chairing a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis. Then, he announced that he would run in the new elections after Monti's government collapsed due to a vote of no confidence.

Said 2013 elections ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible.

But, would the happy days last long? The answer is: no.

In 1994, the TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi, richest man in Italy, became PM for the first time. His government, predictably, only lasted a couple of months. He still owns three national TV channels, as well as the AC Milan football club. He was reelected in 2001, then defeated fairly narrowly in the 2006 elections and replaced by Romano Prodi, who had been PM before. In 2008, Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why (and how the hell) it happened. In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy (even moreso than usual). He has recently resigned in favor of independent Mario Monti, who is chairing a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis. Then, he announced that he would run in the new elections after Monti's government collapsed due to a vote of no confidence. Said 2013 elections ended with a clusterfuck, as the centre-left coalition won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies but nobody won an outright majority in the Senate, making the formation of a government nearly impossible.

The King - hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, '''prince Umberto'''. The prince was crowned on '''May 9, 1946''', as '''Umberto II ''' and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called '''il Re di Maggio''' (The King of May); during his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could could have led to another unnecessary bloodbath. At that time, some Sicilian hotheads were pushing for independence, thus threating the unity and the stability of the whole nation and the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy. However - showing the good sense his father lacked - he promptly granted Sicily fiscal and local autonomy, thus making the indepentists campaigners run out of steam; sent fresh troops to the border and called for a referendum which would hopefully strengthen the position of the King.

From the late 50s to the mid-60s, Italy enjoyed a period of unprecedented '''economic growth''' and '''prosperity''', despite surreally widespread levels of corruption and state inefficiency - the so-called ''Italian Miracle''. Industrial production skyrocketed; new highways, dams, power plants, schools and hospitals were built; Italian films and pop music became well known. Italian '''brands''', too, became fashionable: Olivetti, FIAT, Piaggio, Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo... not to mention the several designer clothes and furniture that were exported all over the world. The factories of Northern Italy experienced a dramatic shortage of manpower and millions of workers from Southern Italy emigrated there in search of a better life, unemployment was virtually non-existent and Italy looked prosperous as never before.

!!''' The First Republic: Italy from 1947 to 1992'''

Eventually, the Cold War partly loosened some of the treaty's provisions and Italy greatly benefited from the '''European Recovery Program''', better known as the Marshall Plan; between 1948 and 1951 over 1.204.000 $ were spent in food aids, factories and other important public works. For the following 30 years, the country would be dominated by the centre-right, Vatican-and-US-backed '''Christian Democracy''' (with the Communist Party being the largest opposition party), which led to Italy's entry into the '''NATO''' in '''1949'''; from the late 40s to TheFifties, Italy experienced the first signs of economic growth.

It was later confronted by the rise of the Socialists, had the premiership change hands 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[hottip:*:That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence (a practice called ''Manuale Cencelli'' for the cabinet and ''lottizzazione'' for state conglomerates; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Italy#Presidents_of_the_Council_of_Ministers_of_the_Italian_Republic_.281946.E2.80.93Present.29 The Other Wiki's list of PMs illustrates this game of musical chairs rather well]]), and generally engaging in StrawmanPolitical-level corruption and nepotism - the constant reshuffles were meant to preserve the BalanceOfPower and accomodate their "clients" and, above all, the USA. The prevalence of nepotism and corruption [[{{Understatement}} did not bring any positive contributions to Italy's reputation]], and within the country itself it fostered a climate of isolation between the political elite and Italian citizens, whose increasing dissatisfaction and revulsion with the system fueled widespread political apathy. One of the arguable side effects of the corrupt establishment was that the Italian Communist Party became the most popular communist party in Europe, earning a reputation for being {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s and competent administrators at the regional level; their popularity further increased when they broke off from the Soviet Union (leading to the "historic compromise" and accommodation of TheSeventies) and criticised its invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.

From the late 50s to the mid-60s, Italy enjoyed a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity despite surreally widespread levels of corruption and state inefficiency, the so-called ''Italian Miracle'': industrial production skyrocketed; new highways, dams, power plants, schools and hospitals were built; Italian movies and pop music became well known, while Italian brands, too, became fashionable: Olivetti, FIAT, Piaggio, Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo... not to mention the several designer clothes and furniture that were exported all over the world. The factories of Northern Italy experienced a dramatic shortage of manpower and millions of workers from Southern Italy emigrated there in search of a better life.

In 1968 all came to an end. After that year's student riots and the so-called ''Autunno caldo'' ("Hot Autumn", a series of massive strikes), a long period of tension and terrorism dubbed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_lead_(Italy) "The Years of Lead"]] broke out after the bombing of piazza Fontana, in Milan (1969), and culminated with the kidnapping and murder of the Italian PM Aldo Moro (1978) at the hands of a communist terrorist organisation known as the ''Brigate Rosse'' ("Red Brigades"). The assassination ended the "historic compromise", though the ICP condemned the Red Brigades and adopted a policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorist groups (the "Front of Firmness"). Add to all these the Cold War-era ''strategy of tension'' with its assorted intrigues, the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt, the increasing power of the Mafia in Southern Italy (just for starters), and the First Republic starts to look like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems. The collapsing value of the [[RidiculousExchangeRates lira]] as far back as 1957 led the government to pass various laws mandating the indexation of wages to inflation, which was extended in 1975 to create the "moving staircase" system whereby workers received an additional flat fee to automatically compensate them for three months' of price increases and quarterly wage revisions, making wages rise faster than prices. Combined with Italy's extremely generous welfare provisions, this meant that Italian workers were among the best paid, most protected, and best treated in Europe; the costliness of this system and state inefficiency later forced Italy to adopt harsh austerity measures to cope with the resulting rise in public debt.

On June 2, 1946, the first free referendum since 1921 took place and that was also the first time Italian women were allowed to vote. Electoral results showed a nation almost split in two - Northern Italians voted ''en masse'' for the Republic, while Central and Southern Italians wanted to keep the Monarchy; there were also widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result, but Italy eventually became a Republic.

The following 50 years - from 1947 to 1992 - known as the ''First Republic'', led to the country initially being dominated by the centre-right, US-backed Christian Democracy (with the Communist Party being the largest opposition party) but later confronted by the rise of the Socialists, had the premiership change hands 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[hottip:*:That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence (a practice called ''Manuale Cencelli'' for the cabinet and ''lottizzazione'' for state conglomerates; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Italy#Presidents_of_the_Council_of_Ministers_of_the_Italian_Republic_.281946.E2.80.93Present.29 The Other Wiki's list of PMs illustrates this game of musical chairs rather well]]), and generally engaging in StrawmanPolitical-level corruption and nepotism - the constant reshuffles were meant to preserve the BalanceOfPower and accomodate their "clients" and, above all, the USA. The prevalence of nepotism and corruption [[{{Understatement}} did not bring any positive contributions to Italy's reputation]], and within the country itself it fostered a climate of isolation between the political elite and Italian citizens, whose increasing dissatisfaction and revulsion with the system fueled widespread political apathy. One of the arguable side effects of the corrupt establishment was that the Italian Communist Party became the most popular communist party in Europe, earning a reputation for being {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s and competent administrators at the regional level; their popularity further increased when they broke off from the Soviet Union (leading to the "historic compromise" and accommodation of TheSeventies) and criticised its invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.

In 1954, the city of Trieste, after a series of lenghty negotiations, was finally reunited with Italy; television was introduced and the national broadcasting company, ''RAI'', was created. From the late 50s to the mid-60s, Italy enjoyed a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity despite surreally widespread levels of corruption and state inefficiency, the so-called ''Italian Miracle'': industrial production skyrocketed; new highways, dams, power plants, schools and hospitals were built; Italian movies and pop music became well known, while Italian brands, too, became fashionable: Olivetti, FIAT, Piaggio, Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo... not to mention the several designer clothes and furniture that were exported all over the world. The factories of Northern Italy experienced a dramatic shortage of manpower and millions of workers from Southern Italy emigrated there in search of a better life.

Italy had already signed an Armistice with the Allies in 1943, which would later lay the foundation for the Peace Treaty. In brief - Italy was, by virtue of the Treaty, forced to disband a good part of its Navy; the country was not allowed to deploy the Army (which was reduced in size) outside its borders; minorities had their status recognised. not only Italy had to pay hefty economic reparations but also lost all its overseas possessions and part of its territory, as following:

'''Enrico de Nicola''' was elected '''first President''' of Italy, while the new '''Constitution''' was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year; all the male members of the House of Savoy (including the now-ex King) were banished from Italy and exiled to Portugal (by the wahy - the ban was eventually lifted in 2002).

'''Enrico de Nicola''' was elected '''first President''' of Italy, while the new '''Constitution''' was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year; all the male members of the House of Savoy (including
the now-ex King) were banished from Italy and exiled to Portugal.

The King - hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, '''prince Umberto'''. The prince was crowned on '''May 9, 1946''', as '''Umberto II ''' and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called '''il Re di Maggio''' (The King of May); during his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could could have led to another unnecessary bloodbath. At that time, some Sicilian hotheads were pushing for independence, thus threating the unity and the stability of the whole nation and the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy. However - showing the good sense his father lacked - he promptly granted Sicily fiscal and local autonomy, thus making the indepentists campaigners run out of steam; sent fresh troops to the Eastern border and called for a referendum which would hopefully strengthen the position of the King.

!!'''The Referendum and the Peace Treaty'''

* '''The Referendum'''

* '''The Peace Treaty of 1947'''

Italy had already signed an Armistice with the Allies in 1943, which would later lay the foundation for the Peace Treaty. In brief - Italy was, by virtue of the Treaty, forced to disband a good part of its Navy; the country was not allowed to deploy the Army (which was reduced in size) outside its borders; minorities had their status recognised. Italy also lost all its colonies and part of its territory, as following:

'''Libya''' became independent in 1951;

'''Somalia''' was granted sovereignty in 1960;

'''Ethiopia''' had already been liberated by the British in 1942;

'''Eritrea''' was federated with Ethiopia;

The '''Dodecanese''' was ceded to Greece;

The regions of '''Istria''' and '''Dalmatia''' were ceded to Yugoslavia;

The city of '''Trieste''' was declared "free territory".

!''' The First Republic: Italy from 1947 to 1992'''

* '''The referendum'''

'''Enrico de Nicola''' was elected first President of Italy, while the new '''Constitution''' was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year; all the male members of the House of Savoy (including

The city of '''Trieste'' was declared "free territory".

!''' Italy from 1947 to 1968'''

- Libya became independent in 1951;

- Somalia was granted sovereignty in 1960;

- Ethiopia had already been liberated by the British in 1942;

- Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia;

- The Dodecanese islands were ceded to Greece;

- The Italian regions of Istria and Dalmatia were ceded to Yugoslavia;

- The city of Trieste was declared "free territory".

On June 2, 1946, the first free referendum since 1921 took place and that was also the first time Italian women were allowed to vote. The results showed a nation split in two - Northern Italians voted ''en masse'' for the Republic, while Central and Southern Italians wanted to keep the Monarchy; there were also widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result, but Italy eventually became a Republic. The new Constitution was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year. Italy (by virtue of the peace treaty of 1947) not only was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions but had also to cede some of its territory, as following:

- ''Istria'' and ''Dalmatia'' (acquired after WW1) were ceded to Yugoslavia, while the city of Trieste was declared free territory;

- The ''Dodecanese'' islands (acquired in 1912 after the Italo-Turkish War) was ceded to Greece;

- ''Libya'' (conquered in 1911 during the above war) became independent in 1951;

- ''Somalia'' (acquired in 1890) was granted sovereignty in 1960;

- ''Ethiopia'' (conquered in 1936) had already been liberated by the British in 1942;

- The former colony of ''Eritrea'' (acquired in 1882) was federated with Ethiopia.

The King - hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation - abdicated in favour his eldest son, '''prince Umberto'''. The prince was crowned on '''May 9, 1946''', as '''Umberto II ''' and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called '''il Re di Maggio''' (The King of May); during his incredibly short reign, he had to defuse the various sources of tension within the country which could could have caused another unnecessary bloodbath.

At that time, some Sicilian hotheads were pushing for independence, thus threating the unity and
the stability of the whole nation; the Yugoslavians wanted to annex much of North-Eastern Italy;
as said before, the Communist and Socialist parties were rapidly growing - the United States, of
course, weren't happy about it. What could the new King do?

On June 2, 1946 the monarchy was abolished via a referendum (a controversial referendum it should be noted, with widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result) and Italy became a republic. The new Constitution was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year. Italy (by virtue of the peace treaty of 1947) not only was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions but had also to cede some of its territory, as following:

The King, hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation, abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto. The prince was crowned on May 9, 1946, as Umberto II and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called "il Re di Maggio" (The King of May). On June 2, 1946 the monarchy was abolished via a referendum (a controversial referendum it should be noted, with widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result) and Italy became a republic. The new Constitution was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year. Italy (by virtue of the peace treaty of 1947) not only was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions but had also to cede some of its territory, as following:

Italy after the fall of the monarchy (1946), until the present day.

When WW2 ended, king Vittorio Emanuele III - who had appointed Mussolini Prime Minister and fled Rome when the Germans occupied Italy - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation. The prince was crowned on May 9, 1946, as Umberto II and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called "il Re di Maggio" (The King of May). On June 2, 1946 the monarchy was abolished via a referendum (a controversial referendum it should be noted, with widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result) and Italy became a republic. The new Constitution was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year. Italy (by virtue of the peace treaty of 1947) not only was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions but had also to cede some of its territory, as following:

When WW2 ended, king Vittorio Emanuele III - who had appointed Mussolini Prime Minister and fled Rome when the Germans occupied Italy - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation. The prince was crowned on May 9, 1946, as Umberto II and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called "il Re di Maggio" (The King of May). On June 2, 1946 the monarchy was abolished via a referendum (a controversial referendum it should be noted, with widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result) and Italy became a republic. The new Constitution was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year. Some of its regulations, however, were enacted much later: the Italian Constitutional Court was created in 1955 and regional autonomy was granted in 1970. Italy (by virtue of the peace treaty of 1947) not only was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions but had also to cede some of its territory, as following:

When WW2 ended, king Vittorio Emanuele III - who had appointed Mussolini Prime Minister and fled Rome when the Germans occupied Italy - abdicated in favour his eldest son, prince Umberto, hoping to restore the Royal Family's reputation. The prince was crowned on May 9, 1946, as Umberto II and remained king of Italy for just over a month - which is why he was called "il Re di Maggio" (The King of May). On June 2, 1946 the monarchy was abolished via a referendum (a controversial referendum it should be noted, with widespread accusations that the anti-monarchists rigged the result) and Italy became a republic. The new Constitution was promulgated on 22 December, 1947, and came into force the next year. Some of its regulations, however, were enacted much later: the Italian Constitutional Court was created in 1955 and regional autonomy was granted in 1970. Italy (by virtue of the peace treaty of 1947) not only was forced to relinquish all its overseas possessions, but ceded also some of its territory. So:

The following 50 years - from 1947 to 1992 - known as the ''First Republic'', led to the country initially being dominated by the centre-right (with the Communist Party being the largest opposition party) but later confronted by the rise of the Socialists, had the premiership change hands 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[hottip:*:That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence (a practice called ''Manuale Cencelli'' for the cabinet and ''lottizzazione'' for state conglomerates; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Italy#Presidents_of_the_Council_of_Ministers_of_the_Italian_Republic_.281946.E2.80.93Present.29 The Other Wiki's list of PMs illustrates this game of musical chairs rather well]]), and generally engaging in StrawmanPolitical-level corruption and nepotism - the constant reshuffles were meant to preserve the BalanceOfPower and accomodate their "clients" and, above all, the USA. The prevalence of nepotism and corruption [[{{Understatement}} did not bring any positive contributions to Italy's reputation]], and within the country itself it fostered a climate of isolation between the political elite and Italian citizens, whose increasing dissatisfaction and revulsion with the system fueled widespread political apathy. One of the arguable side effects of the corrupt establishment was that the Italian Communist Party became the most popular communist party in Europe, earning a reputation for being {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s and competent administrators at the regional level; their popularity further increased when they broke off from the Soviet Union (leading to the "historic compromise" and accommodation of TheSeventies) and criticised its invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.

In 1994, the TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi, richest man in Italy, became PM for the first time. His government, predictably, only lasted a couple of months. He still owns three national TV channels, as well as the AC Milan football club. He was reelected in 2001, then defeated fairly narrowly in the 2006 elections and replaced by Romano Prodi, who had been PM before. In 2008, Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why it happened. In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy (even moreso than usual). He has recently resigned in favor of independent Mario Monti, who is chairing a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis. Then, he announced that he would run in the new elections after Monti's government collapsed due to a vote of no confidence.

The following 50 years - from 1947 to 1992 - known as the ''First Republic'', led to the country initially being dominated by the centre-right (with the Communist Party being the largest opposition party) but later confronted by the rise of the Socialists, had the premiership change hands 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[hottip:*:That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence (a practice called ''Manuale Cencelli'' for the cabinet and ''lottizzazione'' for state conglomerates; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Italy#Presidents_of_the_Council_of_Ministers_of_the_Italian_Republic_.281946.E2.80.93Present.29 The Other Wiki's list of PMs illustrates this game of musical chairs rather well]]), and generally engaging in StrawmanPolitical-level corruption and nepotism - the constant reshuffles were meant to preserve the BalanceOfPower and accomodate their "clients" and, above all, the USA. The prevalence of nepotism and corruption [[{{Understatement}} did not bring any positive contributions to Italy's reputation]], and within the country itself it fostered a climate of isolation between the political elite and Italian citizens, whose increasing dissatisfaction and revulsion with the system fueled widespread political apathy. One of the arguable side effects of the corrupt establishment was that the Italian Communist Party became the most popular communist party in Europe, earning a reputation for being {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s and competent administrators at the regional level; their popularity further increased when they broke off from the Soviet Union and criticised its invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.

In 1968 all came to an end. After that year's student riots and the so-called ''Autunno caldo''
("Hot Autumn", a series of massive strikes), a long period of tension and terrorism dubbed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_lead_(Italy) "The Years of Lead"]] broke out after the bombing of piazza Fontana, in Milan (1969), and culminated with the kidnapping and murder of the Italian PM Aldo Moro (1978) at the hands of a communist terrorist organisation known as the ''Brigate Rosse'' ("Red Brigades"). Add to all these the Cold War-era ''strategy of tension'' with its assorted intrigues, the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt, the increasing power of the Mafia in Southern Italy (just for starters), and the First Republic starts to look like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems. The collapsing value of the [[RidiculousExchangeRates lira]] as far back as 1957 led the government to pass various laws mandating the indexation of wages to inflation, which was extended in 1975 to create the "moving staircase" system whereby workers received an additional flat fee to automatically compensate them for three months' of price increases and quarterly wage revisions, making wages rise faster than prices. Combined with Italy's extremely generous welfare provisions, this meant that Italian workers were among the best paid, most protected, and best treated in Europe; the costliness of this system and state inefficiency later forced Italy to adopt harsh austerity measures to cope with the resulting rise in public debt.

The following 50 years - from 1947 to 1992 - known as the ''First Republic'', led to the country initially being dominated by the centre-right (with the Communist Party being the largest opposition party) but later confronted by the rise of the Socialists, had the premiership change hands 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[hottip:*:That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government and important state conglomerates between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence (a practice called ''Manuale Cencelli'' for the cabinet and ''lottizzazione'' for state conglomerates; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Italy#Presidents_of_the_Council_of_Ministers_of_the_Italian_Republic_.281946.E2.80.93Present.29 The Other Wiki's list of PMs illustrates this game of musical chairs rather well]]), and generally engaging in StrawmanPolitical-level corruption and nepotism - the constant reshuffles were meant to preserve the BalanceOfPower and accomodate their "clients" and, above all, the USA. The prevalence of nepotism and corruption [[{{Understatement}} did not bring any positive contributions to Italy's reputation]], and within the country itself it fostered a climate of isolation between the political elite and Italian citizens, whose increasing dissatisfaction and revulsion with the system fueled widespread political apathy.

("Hot Autumn", a series of massive strikes), a long period of tension and terrorism dubbed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_lead_(Italy) "The Years of Lead"]] broke out after the bombing of piazza Fontana, in Milan (1969), and culminated with the kidnapping and murder of the Italian PM Aldo Moro (1978) at the hands of a communist terrorist organisation known as the ''Brigate Rosse'' ("Red Brigades"). Add to all these the Cold War-era ''strategy of tension'' with its assorted intrigues, the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt, the increasing power of the Mafia in Southern Italy (just for starters), and the First Republic starts to look like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems. The collapsing value of the [[FunnyMoney lira]] as far back as 1957 led the government to pass various laws mandating the indexation of wages to inflation, which was extended in 1975 to create the "moving staircase" system whereby workers received an additional flat fee to automatically compensate them for three months' of price increases and quarterly wage revisions, making wages rise faster than prices. Combined with Italy's extremely generous welfare provisions, this meant that Italian workers were among the best paid, most protected, and best treated in Europe; the costliness of this system and state inefficiency later forced Italy to adopt harsh austerity measures to cope with the resulting rise in public debt.

The following 50 years - from 1947 to 1992 - known as the ''First Republic'', led to the country initially being dominated by the centre-right (with the Communist Party being the largest opposition party) but later confronted by the rise of the Socialists, had the premiership change hands 40 times in 50 years and endured short-lived governments (average shelf life: around 11 months; shortest: ''21 days''[[hottip:*:That'd be Amintore Fanfani's first government, between 18 January and 10 February 1954 - it lost a vote of confidence]]). The main reason for this was that the important parties ended up playing a game of dividing important posts in government between themselves on purely strategic considerations as opposed to, say, competence ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Italy#Presidents_of_the_Council_of_Ministers_of_the_Italian_Republic_.281946.E2.80.93Present.29 The Other Wiki's list of PMs illustrates this game of musical chairs rather well]]), and generally engaging in StrawmanPolitical-level corruption - the constant reshuffles were meant to preserve the BalanceOfPower and accomodate their "clients" and, above all, the USA.

("Hot Autumn", a series of massive strikes), a long period of tension and terrorism dubbed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_lead_(Italy) "The Years of Lead"]] broke out after the bombing of piazza Fontana, in Milan (1969), and culminated with the kidnapping and murder of the Italian PM Aldo Moro (1978) at the hands of a communist terrorist organisation known as the ''Brigate Rosse'' ("Red Brigades"). Add to all these the Cold War-era ''strategy of tension'' with its assorted intrigues, the government's failure to alleviate the North-South divide (most of the money sank thanks to corruption, and incompetent planning led to factories being plonked down in less than optimal places), a string of governments so incompetent or irresponsible with economics that Italy ran a gigantic budget deficit all throughout the Cold War accumulating an enormous amount of public debt, the increasing power of the Mafia in Southern Italy (just for starters), and the First Republic starts to look like a very resilient CrapsaccharineWorld, where Italians enjoyed a high standard of living despite all the aforementioned pervasive problems.

After the Cold War ended (and thus the USA's interest in keeping left-wingers out of power vanished), the corruption-laden political system, dubbed "Tangentopoli" (Italian for "Bribeville") was exposed by the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite clean hands]]" investigations of 1992-1994. These involved a big part of the Senate and House and caused the collapse of the old dominant parties (except the Communists; they changed their name to the Democratic Party of the Left for other reasons--chiefly the fact that "Communism" had [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp become passe]]), the emergence of new parties in their stead, the adoption of a mixed member proportional representation electoral system, and generally had such a large impact that the period afterwards is called the ''Second Republic''.

In 1994, the TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi, richest man in Italy, became PM for the first time. He still owns three national TV channels, as well as the AC Milan football club. He was defeated, fairly narrowly, in the 2006 elections and replaced by Romano Prodi, who had been PM before. In 2008, Berlusconi became Prime Minister again despite numerous controversies and gaffes, which leads one to wonder why it happened. In 2011 he referred to Italy as "this shitty country" and people were not happy. He has recently resigned in favor of independent Mario Monti, who is chairing a transitional government tasked with implementing urgently-needed reforms to stave off a debt crisis.

services (Rome again) and textiles (Lombardy). In other fields, the combined effect of high labor costs, government corruption, archaic regulations, constantly striking unions, lack of central government investment, and (controversially) an overvalued Euro, Italy is not particularly dynamic.