Berlusconi formally steps down, Rome celebrates
President Giorgio Napolitano accepted Berlusconi's resignation after a meeting in the presidential palace, his office said.
Berlusconi, who failed to secure a majority in a crucial vote on Tuesday, handed in his resignation after parliament passed a package of measures demanded by European partners to restore market confidence in Italy's strained public finances.
Former European Commissioner Mario Monti is expected to be given the task of trying to form a new administration to face a widening financial crisis which has sent Italy's borrowing costs to unmanageable levels.
More than a thousand demonstrators waving banners mocking Berlusconi flocked to the president's residence at the Quirinale Palace and shouted "clown, clown, clown" as the motorcade carrying the billionaire media entrepreneur who has been Italy's longest serving prime minister entered.
The crowd grew so unruly that Berlusconi was forced to leave secretly via a side entrance and return to his private residence.
Cheers broke out when they heard that Berlusconi had resigned and the square broke out into a party atmosphere. They sang, danced and some broke open bottles of champagne.
An orchestra near the palace played the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. "We are here to rejoice," one said.
Demonstrators chanting "resign, resign, resign" also gathered outside the prime minister's office and parliament, heckling ministers as they walked between the two buildings.
A small group of pro-Berlusconi demonstrators gathered outside his residence but were outnumbered by opponents.
"This is something that deeply saddens me," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Berlusconi as telling aides.
The presidential palace said Napolitano would begin consultations with political figures at 8 am on Sunday morning. He was expected to formally ask Monti for form a government on Sunday night.
Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, came close to disaster this week when yields on 10-year bonds soared over 7.6 percent, the kind of level which forced Ireland, Portugal and Greece to seek an international bailout.
Monti, named by Napolitano as a Senator for Life on Wednesday, is expected to appoint a relatively small cabinet of technocrat specialists to steer Italy through the crisis.
Financial markets have backed a Monti government and as prospects of Berlusconi going became firmer last week, yields dropped below the critical 7 percent level, although they remain close.
"We don't yet have a new government in Italy and we have to wait, but I'm sure if Mario Monti will be appointed he will do whatever is necessary in order to restore the confidence of the financial markets in Italy," Alessandro Profumo, former head of Unicredit, Italy's largest bank, told reporters.
COMMENTS >
Vote clears way for Berlusconi resignation
