Last week it emerged that top-tier Italian independent Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners was being rent asunder by the departure of no less than 100 of its lawyers, including a few of the ones people have actually heard of. Italian politics is not always famed for its crystal clarity, never mind in law firms, so The Diary is happy to help out with this exclusive timeline of Italy’s biggest bust-up since Sophia Loren.

21 September, 2006