A summer of financial scandals has laid bare the failings of Italy's political system, leaving the way clear for the judiciary once again to fill the void left by an ineffectual parliament.
More than a decade after the Tangentopoli (Bribesville) anti-graft investigations destroyed the ruling political class, magistrates say they have uncovered wrongdoing in financial circles that strikes at the heart of Italy's institutions.
"What is emerging is a can of worms that makes Tangentopoli look like a kiddies' tea party," said Antonio Di Pietro, a former magistrate who spearheaded the Bribesville probes and has since become a ferociously outspoken, centre-left politician.
"What is most serious is that people are fleeing from taking responsibility for all this," he said.
The latest investigation centres on the disputed planned takeover of wealthy Italian bank Antonveneta by a smaller rival, Banca Populare Italiana, with well known financiers under investigation for insider trading, market rigging and fraud.
The scandal embraces allegations of ethical failings by Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio, plans for a murky takeover of Italy's most influential newspaper, Corriere della Sera, and political interference from all sides.
There is no suggestion that politicians have taken bribes in the scandals, and Mr Fazio is not under investigation. But the affair has underscored the government's failure to push through an urgently needed reform of Italy's market regulations.
Such a law was promised after massive fraud almost destroyed food firm Parmalat in 2003, but the bill is still languishing in Parliament, a victim of party feuding that regularly hamstrings efforts to reform Italy's hidebound institutions.
"If politicians don't intervene swiftly, the question of (political) morality risks once again being re-opened. The outcome could be a popular revolt or mass cynicism," said Arturo Parisi, the right-hand man of opposition leader Romano Prodi.
"This is inevitable when politics and the institutions don't fulfil their roles, or worse, do things that their roles don't permit. You can understand why in cases like this ordinary people think, 'Thank goodness for the judiciary'," he added.
Ordinary people might think that, but Italy's centre-right Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, apparently does not.
His name has popped up in wire taps, authorised by magistrates and subsequently leaked to the press, that show financiers looking to draw him into their plans, especially regarding a takeover of Corriere's parent company RCS.
"I told (Berlusconi) that we were going ahead with RCS and if he didn't give us a hand, the left would take everything," one financier told a friend in a taped conversation after he had dined out with the Prime Minister.
Mr Berlusconi founded Italy's biggest media group and he has angrily denied speculation that he was involved in moves on RCS.
Rather than comment on the merits of the investigations, Mr Berlusconi has focused his fire on the magistrate's heavy use of wire taps and has promised to try to limit the practice in future to just terrorism and Mafia probes.
"It is better to have a few fraudsters around and even a murderer rather than feel that we are all prisoners of a Big Brother spying on us and blackmailing us," he told La Stampa in an interview published on Wednesday.
Mr Berlusconi's critics say the proposals, if passed, would significantly diminish the powers of the judiciary and send a disastrous signal to international investors at a time of growing concern about trading in Italy's opaque markets.
Opposition leaders say Italy's political problems lie with Mr Berlusconi who, in their eyes, has never resolved the conflict between his extensive business interests and his public office.
In a bid to prevent Mr Berlusconi extending his business reach, so the argument goes, other parties are trying to make sure that their supporters get into powerful corporate positions.
"The real virus has been Mr Berlusconi's conflict of interest. We have to absolutely make sure that that everyone else isn't somehow infected," Mr Parisi told Corriere della Sera.
The truth is more complicated. Italian politicians have long worked hand-in-hand with big business, while the inefficient banking sector has willingly financed the country's corporate elite. This matrix of entwined interests has hindered any meaningful reform of the markets.
"The activism (of the magistrates) is largely due to the impotence of a political class that has hardly ever intervened to tackle problems with speed and rapidity," Corriere della Sera wrote in a recent front page editorial.