da:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldgui...tial?a=culture
Recent History
Italy's parliament has a reputation for scandal and resignation, and at times it has left Italy virtually ungoverned and utterly chaotic. The explosion of corruption cases in the Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) and Tangentopoli (Bribesville) cases in the 1990s threw the traditional political parties into chaos and eventually led to Italy's richest man, entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi, becoming prime minister in alliance with the former Fascist party and northern Italian secessionists in 2001. Berlusconi, plagued by fraud and other charges, spent much of his term concocting laws to suit his private and business interests. His most lasting legacy was probably the nationwide ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces in early 2005. With his coalition looking brittle and many Italians desperately disillusioned with his cavalier approach to politics, the ever disunited left wing snatched power in a neck-and-neck election in 2006. Romano Prodi was named the new Prime Minister.