Philippe Ridet
Philippe Ridet (b. 1955) is Le Monde's Rome correspondent. He is a specialist in French law. His book Le Président et moi (The President and I) relates his three years following Nicolas Sarkozy on and off the campaign trail.
Updated: 26 March 2010
From the "commedia dell'arte" to the cynical characters of the cartoonist Altan, Italy has always had a caustic sense of humour. In the latest part in its series on humour, Le Monde says that the archetypes of Italian society have a bright future ahead of them. 
Founded in the late 1980s in protest against abuses of power by "Roman" political parties, the movement lead by Umberto Bossi is Silvio Berlusconi's most faithful ally in government. With a share of the vote that has increased from less than 4% in 2001 to more than 10% in the 2008 European elections, it's likely to make further gains in regional elections to held on the 28 and 29 March.