But whatever the next government, it will have to confront the demands of a country under stress, whose households and businesses feel pinched by taxes and angered by politics, seen as more a source of waste of public money than of ideas.
New negative indicators released Monday underlined the gravity of the crisis. Over a quarter of Italians risk poverty and social exclusion, while industrial output fell 6.2 percent in October, its 14th straight annual drop, according to national statistics institute Istat.
Cumquat market in S China's Guangxi