The man to replace Mario Draghi as the head of the Bank of Italy is a talented economist and academic who has spent the majority of his career at the central bank as well as a period in a senior role at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

A surprise successor Ignazio Visco was picked by the country's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to replace Draghi when he takes over from Jean-Claude Trichet as European Central Bank president on November 1.