Management, shareholders and regulators all seem to carry some of the blame for allowing Monte dei Paschi to acquire Antonveneta, which created uncontrollable risks for what had previously been one of Italy's more conservative banks.

A strategic alliance in equities with a brokerage firm and the massive strengthening of the balance sheet have helped put UniCredit's corporate and investment bank ahead of the pack, according to deputy chief executive Olivier Khayat.

A covered bond placed with a yield well inside the Italian government provides a reassuring signal that the country’s largest bank by assets, UniCredit, has a viable funding plan to ride out the sovereign crisis.

Italy's recent debt problems can be traced back to years of mismanagement by the country's self-serving politicians on both sides of the political fence. Mario Monti's 'technocrat' government, however, offers hope of a short-term financial revival and a long-term rethink of the manner in which Italian politics is conducted.

Keeping Greece in and allowing massive European Central Bank intervention are the best ingredients for saving the eurozone. But the case for common eurozone bonds is less clear.

Huge public debts, lacklustre political leadership, teetering on the edge of an abyss... For Italy in 2011, read Italy in 1992, or Italy in the mid 1970s. The country has failed to learn the lesson of past crises and will have to make some unpopular decisions if it is to break this cycle.