Pier Paolo Giglioli, Sandra Cavicchioli and Giolo Fele, Rituali di degradazione. Anatomia del processo Cusani, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1997, 243 pp., ISBN 88–15–05713–7 pbk, 28,000 Lire.
Recent developments in Italian politics, such as the emergence of Forza Italia, became possible only after a much deeper process had taken place, the delegitimation of Italian politicians. In the early 1990s, much of the political class which had dominated Italian politics since the Second World War was publicly exposed and removed from politics. The old parties of government, the Christian Democrats (DC) and the Socialists (PSI), were swept aside. What appeared to be a civilized evolution had its visible peak in the difficult struggle conducted by a few magistrates, the Milan-based Mani pulite (Clean hands) team, against political corruption. The so-called Tangentopoli (Kickback city) investigations have been indicated as the turning point of contemporary Italian politics. They certainly represent the moment when a rhetoric of ‘old’ and ‘new’ was divulged, when the Italian Republic began to be felt as a collapsing venture, giving an opportunity for change and reform which has not yet been grasped.