The recent unseemly power struggle between permatanned billionaire Silvio Berlusconi and new Prime Minister Romano Prodi once again proved that when it comes to public bust-ups, the Italians are world-beaters.

Televised ‘debates’ rarely rose above the pair swapping insults, with Berlusconi calling his rival a “useful idiot” and himself being said to “[cling] to data like a drunkard clings to lamp-posts”.