The Formation of a Government and Parliamentary 'Confidence'
According to the principles of 'parliamentary government' enshrined in the Italian constitutional model, the government assumes the power of political decision with the consent of parliament, which is expressed by a vote of `confidence' in the government by the two chambers.
The nomination process begins with a government crisis and ends with the swearing in of the presidente del consiglio and ministers by the President of the Republic. The second stage is that of parliamentary 'confidence'. It opens with the presentation of the new government to the chambers, within ten days of nomination, and closes with a formal vote of confidence, by nominative appeal, in both chambers of parliament.
When a cabinet crisis occurs the President of the Republic, according to a well-established constitutional practice, engages in political consultations with both individual state figures (former presidents of the republic, the presidents of both chambers and former first ministers) and representatives and delegations of political parties. At the end of these soundings the Head of State, if he judges that the political and institutional conditions exit for forming a government capable of winning parliamentary confidence, will entrust the creation of a cabinet to the designated first minister. Usually, the latter accepts provisionally until he has established, through consultations with the various political forces, the concrete possibility of being able to form a government supported by the majority of members of the chambers.
The President of the Republic then nominates the presidente del consiglio or first minister and, on the latter's proposal, the individual ministers who all then take the oath of loyalty to the Republic. Within the ten days allowed by the Constitution the government must present itself to the chambers who, on hearing the declarations made by the presidente del consiglio, provide the vote of 'confidence'.

The Structure of Government
The government is a complex organ composed of the presidente del consiglio and the ministers, who together constitute the consiglio dei ministri. Various ministers participate jointly in the inter-ministerial committees that handle common issues. Some of these Comitati di Ministri have assumed particular importance, particularly in the economic and financial sectors: such as the inter-ministerial committee on prices (CIP), the inter-ministerial committee for economic planning (CIPE) or the inter-ministerial committee for credito and savings (CICR).
Ministers are divided, according to the position they hold, into those with and without portfolio.

The Powers of the Government
It is the government who holds the executive function. The presidente del consiglio co-ordinates the actions of the various ministers and maintains unity of the general political direction, which is his first responsibility. The consiglio dei ministri decides on all the general policies of the government, with specific competence for all the decisions involving the collective responsibility of the executive. Individual ministers join in determining the government's political direction, participating at the sessions of the consiglio dei ministri and taking the decisions for their respective ministries. The ministers also take responsibility for all the formal acts concerning their own ministries and, collectively, in the consiglio dei ministri, for the government's own acts.

Ministerial Responsibility
Ministers have above all a collective political responsibility for all the government's acts and for a large part of the acts of political consideration that involve the collective responsibility of the government. This responsibility can be tested in parliament through the no confidence motion, whose approval obliges government resignation.
Parliamentary regulations have also recently introduced the individual political responsibility of a minister by a motion of individual no confidence.