Italy has always regretted its lack of national corporate champions with a truly global reach. Sure, the country has boasted a thriving network of small and medium-sized industries. But an industrialised nation also needs large multinational groups to underpin its economic system and Italy can only claim a handful of such companies at best.

These include the two energy groups Eni and Enel, the Fiat automotive conglomerate, the state-controlled defence and aerospace company Finmeccanica and the now much-weakened telecommunications group Telecom Italia. Consolidation in the banking industry has created two large banks – the mainly domestic Intesa and until its recent difficulties the pan-European UniCredit. Any list would be incomplete without Generali, one of Europe’s top three insurers.