Italy in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

September marks the first year in office of the second Conte government. The frail Italian coalition executive, born out of necessity at the end of a very turbulent summer, although still including the Five Stars Movement (M5S) as its largest party, took a totally different political direction from the previous “green-yellow” governing experiment. In fact, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, despite being once again at the head of a populist-led coalition, has succeeded in giving his executive a more moderate mark, marginalising the most radical elements inside the M5S and shifting the centre of gravity of the government more to the centre-left.