Land Without Shame

In today's Italy, public humiliation isn't what it used to be. No matter how badly you've behaved or how loud the calls for your resignation, just sit tight and ride out the storm. That appears to be the position of Antonio Fazio, the governor of the Bank of Italy, who is enmeshed in a scandal that smacks more of low melodrama than high finance. Unfortunately, it's not just Fazio: he represents a corrosive mindset that has crept into Italy's political and business culture over the past decade.

Fazio is in trouble because of his apparent partiality in a...