Italy is ranked as more corrupt than Brazil, South Africa and Bulgaria. It has very serious problems with crime and corruption.

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results#myAnchor1

Don't believe in any ranking blindly, also

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be

It's a PERCEPTIONS rank.

"Very serious problems with crime" compared to what?

This is exactly the problem.

Yeah, that's perception, not actuality.

Italy's got a lot of problems. But it's not Brazil, not by a long shot.

Italy's problem is bureaucracy and outright laziness far more than corruption or crime. And the fact that you can't fire anyone.

I'm amazed that even though news about ndrangheta being very well radicated in Lombardia and other regions from the North (even as up as in Germany!), about a new kind of mafia being born right in the capital, somebody still thinks mafia is something that pertains specifically to the "South".

Please, we've even got members of the Parliament who have been convicted for mafia issues!!

I can assure you, corruption is the least of our problems in our country.

As stated by gruturo the real problems are taxes, inadequate laws, infrastructure (for example cable connection is scarce even in the bigger cities) and finally economic issues.

I was born in Italy and I love my country, but I had to move to a different country to be able to work and being payed for my work.

so taxes haven't been introduced by (corrupted) politicians, to counter balance what corrupted people were doing for way too much time?

Corruption, together with bureaucracy, is amongst the most severe problems that Italy has. The fact that now it's almost impossible to tell the difference and there a mixture of bad behaviour at any level of any position of power.

It is not the main issue right now.

It is a BIG, HUGE issue, but not the main one ruling out housing business in Italy.

The main issue right now is the myopic political view driving the economy.

In Italy corruption is not a problem, it is the only tool to solve problems with the bureaucracy.

The problem results from too many people falling for this way of thinking ... and acting accordingly.

And btw, "bureaucracy" is not a bad thing per se! See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy

[edit: added link]

"The problem results from too many people falling for this way of thinking"

And too many idiots thinking that stamps and signatures and certificates have magical powers and prevents the real ill-intentioned people from doing anything (we could say bureaucracy is the DRM for real life). Also people making use of their position as to gain personal power.

You have a point in saying that bureaucracy is not a bad thing per se, in both the original acception of the word and in some places, like in Germany it "mostly" works.