Salvini, and other right-wing popular leaders, argued that Conte’s death and the lack of broad political consensus should lead to new and early elections, which polls show would likely win.
But while Salvini maintained his now routine calls for early elections, the country’s most politically minded populist was also careful not to appear overly critical of Draghi. He said his party, the League, would make proposals on Draghi’s eventual agenda, which he said, should be “full of content, things to do”.
Mattarella’s decision to summon Draghi followed a meeting on Tuesday night with Mayor Roberto Fico, who had been tasked last week to determine whether the disputed Italian government could overcome a wide range of political differences that led to the collapse of the Conte government last month.
Fico informed the President of Italy late on Tuesday that he had failed.
Mr. Conte also failed in weeks of desperate attempts to gather sufficient support from a variety of lawmakers to remain in power.
As of Tuesday night, Mr. Conte, whom the Five Star had brought out of obscurity just two years ago to lead the country, already seemed to have disappeared.
“In addition to all the arguments, who won and lost, the essence of the situation is that in the most difficult and dramatic situation we can imagine, we have moved from Conte to Draghi”, Mario Calabresi, who edited two of the main newspapers Italy, wrote on Twitter. “I’m going to sleep soundly. You?”
Elisabetta Povoledo, Gaia Pianigiani and Emma Bubola contributed to the report.