Former Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio was indicted Friday along with 15 others for a 2005 scandal-hit bank takeover bid.
Other high-profile names on the indictment list were former Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI) chief Gianpiero Fiorani, former Unipol chairman Giovanni Consorte and Senator Luigi Grillo, a member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.
The 17 face charges ranging from price-fixing and insider trading to embezzlement and hindering the work of market regulators.
Judge Luigi Varanelli also indicted the Unipol bank and a financial company, Nuova Parva.
The trial will start on October 28.
The case centres on BPI's bid to take over Banca Antonveneta - a lender whose market value ($9.8 billion) was more than three times that of the small northern bank.
Fazio is accused of helping Fiorani, a close family friend, outdo foreign rival Dutch bank ABN Amro.
ABN Amro eventually prevailed after Italian judicial probes blocked the BPI operation.
Fazio, 71, stepped down in disgrace at the end of 2005 after he was placed under investigation for insider trading.
His reputation was badly tarnished after published transcripts of wiretaps ordered by magistrates appeared to show that he and his wife worked behind the scenes to help BPI and Fiorani against ABN Amro.
Fazio was subsequently accused of trying to stop foreign banks breaking into the Italian market, charges he denies.
Similar accusations surfaced again when small Italian insurer Unipol sought to take over top Italian bank Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro (BNL), thwarting a bid from Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).
Unipol's July 2005 bid foundered amid regulatory and judicial probes after Fazio's resignation and Consorte is now accused of market rigging.
BNL was eventually taken over by Paribas.
