Mr Giuliano Amato, an economics professor, will today be formally sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy's 58th post-war government. Mr Amato takes over from Democratic Left's Mr Massimo d'Alema, who resigned last week following a heavy defeat for the government centre-left coalition in regional elections 10 days ago.
When given the mandate to form the new government by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi last Friday, Mr Amato had promised to move quickly. Yesterday he proved as good as his word.
Centre-left allies, in consultations about the formation of the government, were surprised to find that Mr Amato requested they send him their suggestions on government policy and cabinet appointments via e-mail.
The technology might have been new but the faces and their political origins are distinctly familiar. Although Mr Amato's cabinet contains five "new entries", including two non-party technocrats, it nonetheless presents a blend of ex-communists, former Christian Democrats, centrists, moderate Marxists, socialists and Greens similar to that led by Mr d'Alema.
The Italian Renewal leader, Mr Lamberto Dini, remains as Foreign Minister, while Mr Amato's own former position of Treasury Minister is taken by Mr Vincenzo Visco, the finance minister in the d'Alema government. The cabinet newcomers are Mr Ottaviano del Turco at Finance, Mr Nerio Nesi at Public Works, Mr Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio at Agriculture and, intriguingly, the two technocrats, Prof Tullio de Mauro at Education and Prof Umberto Veronesi at Health.
Although President Ciampi had called on Mr Amato to present a slimmed-down cabinet of perhaps 18 ministers as opposed to the 25 of the outgoing d'Alema government, the cabinet list presented last night was only one smaller than its predecessor, with 24 ministers. The longer than expected list would suggest that Mr Amato met with a deal of difficulty during his weekend of horse-dealing with centre-left leaders.
Following today's formal swearing-in, the government will present itself in parliament for a confidence vote, which Mr Amato is likely to win. That is most likely to take place early next week, when deputies reconvene after the Easter recess.