MATTEO RENZI

Forming a new government in Italy involves time and decades-old rituals.

The main candidates in Italy's general election on Sunday to elect a new Parliament and determine who next governs the country include both familiar names and lesser-known ones.

Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s is gathering momentum in her push to become Italy’s first female premier.

The leader of Italy's Democratic Party is warning of the threats to European democracy posed by Italy's right-wing nationalistic parties.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s decision to turn in his resignation after his “unity” coalition broke apart dramatically in Parliament was the latest step in a political crisis that could take months before a new government is solidly in place to lead the European Union’s third-largest economy

Italian Premier Mario Draghi's decision to turn in his resignation after his “unity” coalition broke apart dramatically in Parliament was the latest step in a political crisis that could take months before a new government is solidly in place to lead the European Union's third-largest economy.

Draghi is to address parliamentarians Wednesday morning, but it is unclear whether he will stay in power.

Italy has had dozens of governments since the end of World War II.

Italy is entering five days of political and financial uncertainty after the 5-Star Movement sparked a government crisis by withholding support on a government-sponsored bill.

Italy’s political landscape has shifted after Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio formalized his departure from the 5-Star Movement.

Prosecutors in Florence have requested trial indictment for former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi for alleged illegal political party funding.

Insistence by Italy's center-right bloc that their candidate becomes the nation's president has backfired.

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020 file photo, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels. But thats hardly likely to be Contes last hurrah in politics. But that’s hardly likely to be Conte’s last hurrah in Italian politics. But a return to the ballot box could come sooner, given Italy's fluctuating political dynamics. ”What's important is to have a political trajectory, cultivate a political path to offer to the voters and to the country."

Italian President Sergio Mattarella had tasked the former European Central Bank president with trying to form a government up to managing the the health, economic and social crises of the coronavirus pandemic. AdDraghi’s most-quoted words so far have been those uttered in 2012 when the euro-zone risked collapsing in a crisis of confidence and he vowed the European Central Bank would do “whatever it takes” to rescue the euro. The current head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, tweeted her congratulations. Italy's health minister through the pandemic, Roberto Speranza, kept his post, the sole minister from a small left-wing party. ___This story has been corrected to show that employees applauded for Conte, not Draghi.

Leader of the Five-Stars Movement Vito Crimi, 2nd from right, addresses the media at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Draghi, 73, the former president of the European Central Bank completed a first round of talks with political parties this week. Another round is expected early next week on potential Cabinet ministers and a synthesis from Draghi of his vision for the new government. AdItaly's president tapped Draghi this week to form a government after the resignation of ex-Premier Giuseppe Conte, who lost support of a small but key coalition party. Salvini’s move to support Draghi puts him at odds with the far-right Brothers of Italy party and its leader, Giorgia Meloni.

Outgoing Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte waves as he leaves after meeting journalists outside Chigi palace Premier's office in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. Draghi must rely on political support to pass measures aimed at helping Italy emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and revive its economy, already stagnant before being pummeled by lockdown measures. “I hope for a political government that is solid and has sufficient cohesion to be able to make political choices, because the urgencies of the country need political choices, they can’t be entrusted to technocrats,” Conte said. Conte also pitched to two other parties from his unraveled coalition, the center-left Democrats and the leftist Free and Equal Party. His call for a political alliance appeared to indicate Conte intended to stay in politics, even while out of office.

Former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi speaks to the media after accepting a mandate to form Italy's new government from Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Rome's Quirinale Presidential Palace, Wednesday Feb. 3, 2021. During his tenure at the European Central Bank, Draghi became known as “Super Mario" for using new and sometimes unorthodox policy tools to solve the vexing debt crisis and other problems. “As such, it will not vote in favor of a technical government headed by Mario Draghi,” Crimi said in a statement. “If they (the 5-Stars and the League) are going to somehow support Draghi then the government I think can be born," he said in an interview. “Now everyone of good will must welcome President Mattarella's appeal to support the government of Mario Draghi," he said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned, sparking a political crisis while the country is deep in the throes of its COVID-19 epidemic. Conte's center-left coalition government started to wobble last week when former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pulled the support of his splinter party, denying Conte an absolute governing majority. Renzi had chastised Conte over his handling of the health crisis and the economic recovery plan. Prime Minister Conte fought with Renzi's party, his smaller coalition ally, over how to spend the EU recovery funds, and Renzi pulled out of the coalition. In the background is an image of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Italian Premier Conte was meeting Tuesday, Jan. 26. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)ROME – Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte resigned Tuesday after a key coalition ally pulled his party’s support over Conte’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, setting the stage for consultations this week to determine if he can form a third government. Conte’s coalition government was thrown into turmoil earlier this month when a junior party headed by ex-Premier Matteo Renzi yanked its support. But Conte would need Renzi's support to form a new governing coalition or the backing of independents and the center-right Forza Italia party. Conte's first government starting in 2018 was a 5-Star alliance with the right-wing League party led by Matteo Salvini that lasted 15 months.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte attends the debate at the Senate prior to a confidence vote, in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. With a reduced majority, Conte will have to cobble together support from outside the current coalition to pass legislation, including aid to help Italy’s pandemic-battered economy. Conte’s government on Tuesday survived what amounted to a confidence vote with a 156-to-140 win, with 16 abstentions. “The numbers speak clearly,” said Giorgia Melloni, head of the small but rising Brothers of Italy party. In the lower Chamber of Deputies, where the 16-month-old government holds a more comfortable margin, Conte won a first confidence vote on Monday.

LONDON — Italy averted further political chaos on Tuesday after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte survived a confidence vote in the upper house of Parliament. However, Italian lawmakers in the Senate supported Conte during a vote on Tuesday, by 156 to 140, allowing him to remain in office. He was also backed by the lower house of Parliament in a vote on Monday evening. Italia Viva, the small political party established by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, left the coalition last week over differences on how to invest upcoming EU funds to prop up the Italian economy. His party abstained from the crucial vote on Tuesday evening, rather than opting to go against Conte and help bring down the government.

Premier Giuseppe Conte delivers his speech at the Senate, in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. With the vote barely counted, right-wing opposition members started demanding Conte and his oft-bickering, shrunken coalition quit. In the lower Chamber of Deputies, where the 16-month-old government holds a more comfortable margin, Conte won a first confidence vote on Monday. Even though he triggered Conte's political crisis, within hours of the Senate vote, Renzi indicated he would consider returning to the coalition if asked. If Conte's coalition does fold, and no solid one can be tapped to replace it, elections two years early could result.

Premier Giuseppe Conte delivers his speech at the lower chamber of Parliament, in Rome, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. Conte lost his coalition majority with the defection of Cabinet ministers belonging to former Premier Matteo Renzi’s tiny but key Italia Viva (Italy Alive) party, that threatened to collapse his government. But a much tougher hurdle looms Tuesday in the Senate where Renzi’s party has 18 members, meaning Conte would seek support from outside his wobbly coalition to stay in power — even if Renzi's party again abstains in that vote. Even should Conte's government survive in terms of numbers in Parliament, Renzi's party pullout last week highlighted the coalition's fragility. Renzi acted after Conte unveiled a plan to manage the EU recovery funds himself, which was widely seen as accumulating too much power.

The Italian cabinet was in crisis on January 13, 2021 following the resignations of ministers Teresa Bellanova and Elena Bonetti, members of former premier Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva party. Renzi orchestrated the resignations of two ministers from his tiny but key Italia Viva party. “Italia Viva did not start the crisis. CONTE’S NEXT MOVEWith the resignation of the Italia Viva ministers, Conte is working to shore up support in parliament among independent lawmakers. And it is still possible that Italia Viva will restore its backing.

FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 14, 2020 file photo, Silvio Berlusconi is flanked by his personal physician Alberto Zangrillo, left, as he talks to the media while leaving the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, Italy. Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi is hospitalized in the principality of Monaco for medical tests for heart problems, his press office confirmed on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The 84-year-old three-time premier is expected to return home in a few days. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)MILAN – Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalized in the principality of Monaco to undergo medical tests for heart problems, his press office confirmed on Thursday. The 84-year-old three-time premier is expected to return home in a few days.

Italian current Senator, former premier and head of the political party 'Italia Viva' (IV), Matteo Renzi holds a press conference on January 13, 2021 at the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome. LONDON — Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Wednesday announced his intention to pull his centrist party out of the ruling coalition, plunging the country back into political chaos as it battles a resurgence of the coronavirus. Speaking at a highly-anticipated press conference, Renzi said two ministers from his Italia Viva party would resign. Support from Renzi's party had been critical to the survival of the coalition led by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he hoped Renzi would not pull his ministers from the Cabinet, warning the country would not be able to understand why the government had collapsed amid the ongoing health crisis.

“Italy Alive didn't provoke the political crisis,” Renzi told reporters, putting the blame for the coalition government's unraveling on Conte's methods. Before Renzi's announcement, Conte had expressed the desire to sit down with his coalition partners to work out a solution. The largest party in Parliament that belongs to Conte's coalition is the populist 5-Star Movement. Before the current coalition government, Conte led a different, uneasy one forged out of Salvini's euroskeptic League and the rival 5-Stars. Renzi became Italian premier in 2014 after he maneuvered the governing Democratic Party to oust Enrico Letta.

French President Francois Hollande will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday afternoon, and then Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi Thursday before flying to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. All this follows Hollande’s meetings in Washington Tuesday, where President Obama offered solidarity, but not much else. Chip Reid reports.