Enrico Letta, set to be nominated to be Italy's next prime minister on Wednesday, is the Europhile deputy leader of the leftist Democratic Party who at 46 already has extensive government experience.
Italian protest party leader Beppe Grillo said he wanted a "German invasion" of Italy to ensure "honest, competent" politicians, in an interview with Germany's top-selling newspaper on Tuesday.
Italy's centre-left said on Friday it would back former prime minister Romano Prodi for president in a move likely to spark a fierce battle with the centre-right and dim hopes of an end any time soon to the two-month deadlock on forming a new government.
Franco Marini, 80, who has the support of Italy's main political blocs in the country's presidential election, is a pipe-smoking veteran trade unionist and former parliamentarian with formidable political skills and working-class roots.
Italian lawmakers will meet Thursday to begin voting to elect a new president, parliament said in a statement, amid hopes that the election could help end a deadlock on forming a new government.
No stranger to headlines, the porn-star-turned-politician known as 'La Cicciolina' once offered to sleep with Saddam Hussein in return for peace. This week, at the age of 61, she announced her return to politics – which is why she’s our Italian Face of the Week.
Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement party held an online vote on Thursday to select candidates to be the crisis-hit country's next president -- an unorthodox move before lawmakers begin voting on the post next week.
Italy's Silvio Berlusconi on Friday said he could consider supporting a candidate for president from his rivals on the left but only on condition that they form a grand coalition government with him.
Retired Italian porn star Llona Staller, better known as "Cicciolina", on Thursday said she would run for Rome's city council - 34 years after the blonde bombshell started out in politics.
