This article engages with the innovatory methodological approaches within political economics that no longer seek to establish a set of universal laws applicable to a variety of cases, but to provide a convincing explanation of certain individual, exemplary cases. Recent research into public administration in twentieth-century Italy is one case that supports the theories because it postulates that what Italy is today can in part be explained by the exceptional continuity of the enti pubblici (public or government agencies) whose fortunes have been largely determined by Italy's peculiar institutional and cultural milieux. The article examines (i) the proliferation of the enti pubblici as an administrative formula in response to the economic crisis after the First World War; (ii) the periods of growth and decline in the use of this formula and its connection with politics; and (iii) the ways in which the existence of a solid and widespread corporatist culture enabled the enti to survive the fall of Fascism. It concludes that the persistence of the ente pubblico is attributable to a specific culture which is an integral part of Italy's historical identity.