Like so many of his colleagues, Giovanni Giolitti's political career was notably tumultuous. Giolitti, who twice served as Italy's prime minister, was once asked whether it was difficult to govern his native land. "Not at all," Giolitti replied, "but it's useless!"

[Between the end of World War II and the turn of the millennium, Italians welcomed a new prime minister more often than they celebrated Christmas. While visiting Italy one year, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev asked to meet with Italian businessmen rather than government officials: "I want to talk to these people because they stay in power and you change all the time." Among the seventy-three parties on the ballot in the 1968 election? Friends of the Moon, which sported exactly one candidate.]