Until not too many years ago, the Italian government bond market, though the third largest in the world in terms of size, was characterised by numerous inefficiencies and problems regarding both policy in managing the public debt and the operation of the market. These aspects tended to isolate the Italian market from the international fmancial community and to keep large, international investors away from our market. As the situation with Italy's public finances grew worse and with financial markets being deregulated and expanding internationally, several direct measures were taken in recent...