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This paper analyses the main microeconomic determinants of Italian banks' purchases of sovereign debt securities from 2007 to 2013, with special reference to their balance-sheet conditions. The analysis distinguishes two phases of the crisis-the period following the Lehman Brothers collapse and the sovereign debt crisis-and different types of banks (large and small). Results show that banks' specific characteristics and balance-sheet features do matter and that banks use government securities purchases to support their financial and economic conditions. The influence of the balance-sheet conditions differs according to the phase of the crisis and the type of bank.