Mani pulite

As proof of the rule that big things often have small beginnings, it was twenty years ago that a small time Socialist politician named Mario Chiesa was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe from a cleaning company.

The Socialist Party itself denounced him - unacceptable behaviour, one bad apple in every barrel etc - and Chiesa, outraged that his colleagues failed to stand up for him, sang like a canary, evidencing a widespread web of corruption involving all major parties, one fiddle leading to another. The entirety of Italian politics was itself funded, it seemed, by bribery and extortion, money for favours.

The affair, which became known as Tangentopoli ('bribesville') and the persistent investigation by lead magistrate, Antonio Di Pietro which was known as Mani Pulite ('clean hands') grew and all major political parties dissolved themselves and refounded. Scores of politicians confessed and a couple committed suicide. It led to the flight of former Prime Minister and socialist leader Bettino Craxi to Tunisia, where he died in 2000, and to the rise of Silvio Berlusconi.

The magistrate Antonio Di Pietro is now head of a political party IDV (Italy of values).

Incidentally, some people say that the name Mani Pulite was coined by an artist, who sculpted an exhibit supposedly made from Silvio Berlusconi's liposuction.