Italy's research organizations are midway through a major process of reform, designed to sweep away the bureaucracy and deal-making that have beset them for decades (see page 264). But Italian scientists retain a degree of scepticism. They like to quote from The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's classic tale of late-nineteenth-century Sicilian politics: “Change everything so that everything remains unchanged.”

If Italy's overpoliticized and underfinanced science base really is to change, two obvious things are needed: less politics and more money. In this context, 'politics' means the academic wheeling and dealing that in Italy is institutionalized by an overdose of democracy. Important decisions in Italian academia, including the distribution of research funds and senior appointments, are in the hands of committees directly elected by the academic communities they represent. The result, unfortunately, has been a system in which votes are frequently traded for favours, and which fails to reward excellence.

The reforms have successfully de-democratized a few key academic committees. For example, a new committee that distributes small grants to individual university researchers is now composed of a handful of top academics appointed by the research ministry. It works well, concentrating funding in the best labs.

But this is still not the case for most other committees. That is why the whiff of the leopard still lingers over Italy's system of academic promotion, where most members of the new-styled selection committees are still elected, and around the corridors of the CNR, the national research council.

Italian science has an important contribution to make. Statistics published last month by the European Commission show that, although the number of scientific publications out of Italy is well below the European average when computed per million population, the number of highly cited papers exceeds the European average when expenditure is factored in.

The commitment of Italy's new centre-right government to the scientific reforms instituted by its predecessor is unclear. But if education and research minister Letizia Moratti can wean the scientific community away from inappropriate elections, and back successful reform with investment compatible with Italy's status as a G8 economic power, the rewards could be great.