President Sergio Mattarella gave Speaker Elisabetta Alberti Casellati a two-day "exploratory" mandate at a meeting on Wednesday morning. Casellati, a member of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, is tasked with "confirming the existence of a parliamentary majority" between the Five Star Movement (M5S) on one hand and a centre-right coalition on the other. 

The alliance between centrist Forza Italia, the nationalist League and far-right Brothers of Italy won the biggest share of the vote in last month's general election, with 37 percent. That isn't enough for a majority, however, and any coalition government risks crumbling without the backing of the M5S, which won nearly 33 percent just on its own.