In this interview excerpt, Ignazio Visco, economist, senior official at the Bank of Italy since 1971 and Governor of the Bank of Italy since 2011, describes his memories of the personality of Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, who was Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy from 1984 to 1997, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 1998 to 2005 and Italian Minister for the Economy and Finance from 2006 to 2008.