Increased revenues from net interest income. More commissions from customers. Additionally, there are fewer provisions regarding loans. All of this combined has resulted in a record half-year for Italian banks. The most crucial balance-sheet item, earnings, reaches an all-time high of 13 billion. This statistic is particularly good news for bank shareholders, as it confirms and, in many cases, improves the guidance for value distribution, including dividends and buybacks. However, the Treasury also benefits from the banks' profitability, which generates a (record) 5.2 billion in taxes from their operations. The analysis of the half-year accounts of the top eight Italian banks (Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mps, BancoBpm, Bper, Credem, Pop. Sondrio, and Credit Agricole Italia) reveals some clear trends in a sector that, after years of structural fragility, weaknesses caused by zero interest rates, and painful restructuring, has returned to the forefront, with peaks of excellence at the European level. The sector's net interest income increased by 9% from June 2023 to a record high of 21.7 billion. Despite the beginning of the rate curve inversion (which is taking longer than expected), Italian banks continue to extract value from lending, both by reducing funding costs and by protecting themselves from the risk of lower interest rate revenues through technical hedges. Nevertheless, there is an additional source of income that has been increasing for the past three quarters: commissions, which have also increased (+6% to 13.8 billion) as a result of the markets' strong performance.