ITALIANS in their millions are abstaining from democracy. The turnout in last month’s Sicilian regional election was below 50%. And those who do vote are looking in ever-growing numbers to protest groups (in Sicily, one founded by a comedian and blogger, Beppe Grillo, came top).

To understand why, consider Lombardy, the region of Italy’s financial capital, Milan. The city was once Italy’s “moral capital” too—before the premierships of Bettino Craxi, who died an exiled fugitive from justice, and of Silvio Berlusconi, another native Milanese. But the sober and conscientious Mario Monti, Italy’s current prime minister, is from Lombardy. And the region’s people still see themselves as more industrious and upright than southerners. The Northern League stresses Lombardy’s supposedly Celtic heritage. Others point to links with the Teutonic world, including a stint under the Austrian empire.

Yet since its regional election in 2010, Lombardy’s politics has seen a moral collapse. The last straw was the arrest of the head of housing, Domenico Zambetti, accused of aiding the Calabrian mafia, or ’Ndrangheta (see article). Soon afterwards, Roberto Formigoni, who has governed Lombardy for 17 years, dissolved its 80-seat assembly. An election is likely in January.

Mr Zambetti brought to 14 the number of regional lawmakers under investigation or arrest, on trial or in jail. All but one are members of Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) movement or of the Northern League, its coalition partner in Lombardy. Alleged offences include taking bribes, illegal party donations, fraud, embezzlement, fraudulent bankruptcy and incitement to violence. Nicole Minetti, a former television showgirl and dental hygienist allegedly supplied women for Mr Berlusconi’s “Bunga Bunga” parties, aiding and abetting prostitution. More regional parliamentarians are in trouble with the law in Lombardy than in Campania, the region around Naples.

What makes this striking is that, since 1995, politics in Lombardy has been under the sway of a Catholic spiritual movement called Communion and Liberation (CL). Mr Formigoni, who is himself under investigation, is a leading member of CL, a group that grew up in reaction to the student uprisings of 1968. Its ventures include an annual meeting in Rimini at which speakers have included Nobel laureates and Mother Teresa.

Mr Formigoni belongs to the Memores Domini, an association of CL members who are meant to live by the values of fraternal love, obedience and poverty. Among the accusations levelled at him is that he accepted from a friend and businessman holidays at a luxurious Caribbean resort popular with Hollywood stars. Mr Formigoni denies this, claiming to have paid for the holidays himself.

The chief function of Italian regional government is to provide health care. Piero Bassetti, who was Lombardy’s first governor in 1970, says that successive Formigoni administrations created one of the best health services in Europe. But he also claims that CL affiliates in government became “a mafia in the loosest sense” and “opened the doors to corruption”. Critics say lucrative contracts were steered to members of an association of businesspeople linked to CL.

Fabio Pizzul, a possible centre-left candidate for the governorship of Lombardy, says the CL’s influence remains considerable and the extent of its future clout remains “an open question”. As for Mr Formigoni, he may be finished as governor. But he has talked of standing in next month’s primary to choose the PdL candidate for prime minister at next spring’s general election.