• Top left: Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour was the first prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy.
• Top right: Benito Mussolini was the longest-serving prime minister in Italian history.
• Bottom left: Silvio Berlusconi is the longest-serving prime minister of the Italian Republic.
• Bottom right: Mario Draghi is the current prime minister of Italy.

The prime minister of Italy is the head of the Council of Ministers, which holds effective executive power in the Italian government.^[1][2] The first officeholder was Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, who was sworn in on 23 March 1861 after the unification of Italy.^[3] Cavour previously served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, an office from which the Italian prime minister took most of its powers and duties.^[4] During the monarchy period, prime ministers were appointed by the king of Italy, as laid down in the Albertine Statute.^[5] From 1925 until the fall of his regime in 1943, fascist dictator Benito Mussolini formally modified the office title to "Head of Government, Prime Minister and Secretary of State".^[6] From 1861 to 1946, 30 men served as prime ministers, leading 65 governments in total.^[7]

After the abolition of the Kingdom of Italy in 1946 and the proclamation of the Italian Republic, the office was established by Articles 92 through 96 of the Constitution of Italy. The prime minister is appointed by the President of the Republic and must receive a confidence vote by both houses of Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.^[8] Since 1946, 29 men have assumed the office in 75 years,^[9] while no woman has ever held the office.^[10] As of April 2022,^[update] the current officeholder is Mario Draghi, who was appointed on 13 February 2021.^[11]

The longest-serving prime minister in the history of Italy was Benito Mussolini, who ruled the country from 1922 until 1943;^[12] the longest-serving prime minister of the Italian Republic is Silvio Berlusconi, who held the position for more than nine years between 1994 and 2011.^[13] The shortest-serving officeholder was Tommaso Tittoni, who served as prime minister for only 16 days in 1905,^[14] while the shortest-serving prime minister of the Italian Republic was Fernando Tambroni, who governed for 123 days in 1960.^[15]

Prime ministers of Italy

Prime ministers of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

Prime Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Party		Cabinet	Composition	Legislature (Election)	Monarch (Reign)	Ref.
		Took office	Left office	Time in office
	Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810–1861)	23 March 1861	6 June 1861	75 days		Historical Right	Cavour IV[c]	Right	VIII[c] (1861)	Victor Emmanuel II[c] (1861–1878)	[16]
	Baron Bettino Ricasoli (1809–1880)	12 June 1861	3 March 1862	264 days		Historical Right	Ricasoli I	Right			[17]
	Urbano Rattazzi (1808–1873)	3 March 1862	8 December 1862	280 days		Historical Left	Rattazzi I	Right • Left			[18]
	Luigi Carlo Farini (1812–1866)	8 December 1862	24 March 1863	106 days		Historical Right	Farini	Right			[19]
	Marco Minghetti (1818–1886)	24 March 1863	28 September 1864	1 year, 188 days		Historical Right	Minghetti I	Right			[20]
	General Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora (1804–1878)	28 September 1864	31 December 1865	1 year, 265 days		Military	La Marmora II	Right			[21] [22]
		31 December 1865	20 June 1866				La Marmora III		IX (1865)
	Baron Bettino Ricasoli (1809–1880)	20 June 1866	10 April 1867	294 days		Historical Right	Ricasoli II	Right • Left			[23]
	Urbano Rattazzi (1808–1873)	10 April 1867	27 October 1867	200 days		Historical Left	Rattazzi II	Right • Left	X (1867)		[24]
	Count Luigi Federico Menabrea (1809–1896)	27 October 1867	5 January 1868	1 year, 48 days		Historical Right	Menabrea I	Right			[25] [26] [27]
		5 January 1868	13 May 1869				Menabrea II
		13 May 1869	14 December 1869				Menabrea III
	Giovanni Lanza (1810–1882)	14 December 1869	10 July 1873	3 years, 208 days		Historical Right	Lanza	Right	XI (1870)		[28]
	Marco Minghetti (1818–1886)	10 July 1873	25 March 1876	2 years, 259 days		Historical Right	Minghetti II	Right	XII (1874)		[29]
	Agostino Depretis (1813–1887)	25 March 1876	25 December 1877	1 year, 364 days		Historical Left	Depretis I	Left	XIII (1876)		[30] [31]
		26 December 1877	24 March 1878				Depretis II			Umberto I (1878–1900)
	Benedetto Cairoli (1825–1889)	24 March 1878	19 December 1878	270 days		Historical Left	Cairoli I	Left			[32]
	Agostino Depretis (1813–1887)	19 December 1878	14 July 1879	214 days		Historical Left	Depretis III	Left			[33]
	Benedetto Cairoli (1825–1889)	14 July 1879	25 November 1879	1 year, 319 days		Historical Left	Cairoli II	Left			[34] [35]
		25 November 1879	29 May 1881				Cairoli III		XIV (1880)
	Agostino Depretis (1813–1887)	29 May 1881	25 May 1883	6 years, 61 days		Historical Left	Depretis IV	Left			[36] [37] [38] [39] [40]
		25 May 1883	30 March 1884				Depretis V		XV (1882)
		30 March 1884	29 June 1885				Depretis VI
		29 June 1885	4 April 1887				Depretis VII		XVI (1886)
		4 April 1887	29 July 1887				Depretis VIII
	Francesco Crispi (1819–1901)	29 July 1887	9 March 1889	3 years, 192 days		Historical Left	Crispi I	Left			[41] [42]
		9 March 1889	6 February 1891				Crispi II		XVII (1890)
	Marquess Antonio Starabba di Rudinì (1839–1908)	6 February 1891	15 May 1892	1 year, 99 days		Historical Right	Di Rudinì I	Left • Right			[43]
	Giovanni Giolitti (1842–1928)	15 May 1892	15 December 1893	1 year, 214 days		Historical Left	Giolitti I	Left	XVIII (1892)		[44]
	Francesco Crispi (1819–1901)	15 December 1893	14 June 1894	2 years, 86 days		Historical Left	Crispi III	Left • Right			[45] [46]
		14 June 1894	10 March 1896				Crispi IV		XIX (1895)
	Marquess Antonio Starabba di Rudinì (1839–1908)	10 March 1896	11 July 1896	2 years, 111 days		Historical Right	Di Rudinì II	Right with Left's external support			[47] [48] [49] [50]
		11 July 1896	14 December 1897				Di Rudinì III
		14 December 1897	1 June 1898				Di Rudinì IV	Left • Right	XX (1897)
		1 June 1898	29 June 1898				Di Rudinì V	Left • Right
	General Luigi Pelloux (1839–1924)	29 June 1898	14 May 1899	1 year, 360 days		Military	Pelloux I	Left with Right's external support			[51] [52]
		14 May 1899	24 June 1900				Pelloux II	Left • Right
	Giuseppe Saracco (1821–1907)	24 June 1900	15 February 1901	236 days		Historical Left	Saracco	Left • Right	XXI (1900)	Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)	[53]
	Giuseppe Zanardelli (1826–1903)	15 February 1901	3 November 1903	2 years, 261 days		Historical Left	Zanardelli	Left • Right			[54]
	Giovanni Giolitti (1842–1928)	3 November 1903	12 March 1905	1 year, 129 days		Historical Left	Giolitti II	Left • Right with PSI's external support	XXII (1904)		[55]
	Tommaso Tittoni (1855–1931)	12 March 1905	28 March 1905	16 days		Historical Right	Tittoni	Left • Right			[56]
	Alessandro Fortis (1842–1909)	28 March 1905	24 December 1905	317 days		Historical Left	Fortis I	Left • Right			[57] [58]
		24 December 1905	8 February 1906				Fortis II	Left with Right's external support
	Baron Sidney Sonnino (1847–1922)	8 February 1906	29 May 1906	110 days		Historical Right	Sonnino I	Left • Right • PR			[59]
	Giovanni Giolitti (1842–1928)	29 May 1906	11 December 1909	3 years, 196 days		Historical Left	Giolitti III	Left • Right			[60]
	Baron Sidney Sonnino (1847–1922)	11 December 1909	31 March 1910	110 days		Historical Right	Sonnino II	Right with Left's external support	XXIII (1909)		[61]
	Luigi Luzzatti (1841–1927)	31 March 1910	30 March 1911	364 days		Historical Right	Luzzatti	Left • Right • PR			[62]
	Giovanni Giolitti (1842–1928)	30 March 1911	21 March 1914	2 years, 356 days		Liberal Union	Giolitti IV	UL • PR			[63]
	Antonio Salandra (1853–1931)	21 March 1914	5 November 1914	2 years, 89 days		Liberal Union	Salandra I	UL	XXIV (1913)		[64] [65]
		5 November 1914	18 June 1916				Salandra II	UL • PRI
	Paolo Boselli (1838–1932)	18 June 1916	30 October 1917	1 year, 134 days		Liberal Union	Boselli	UL • PR • UECI • PSRI			[66]
	Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (1860–1952)	30 October 1917	23 June 1919	1 year, 236 days		Liberal Union	Orlando	UL • PR • UECI • PSRI			[67]
	Francesco Saverio Nitti (1868–1953)	23 June 1919	21 May 1920	358 days		Italian Radical Party	Nitti I	UL • PLDI • PPI • PR • PSRI			[68] [69]
		21 May 1920	15 June 1920				Nitti II	UL • PLDI • PPI • PR	XXV (1919)
	Giovanni Giolitti (1842–1928)	15 June 1920	4 July 1921	1 year, 19 days		Liberal Union	Giolitti V	UL • PLDI • PPI • PDSI • PR • PSRI			[70]
	Ivanoe Bonomi (1873–1951)	4 July 1921	26 February 1922	237 days		Italian Reformist Socialist Party	Bonomi I	PPI • PLI • PLDI • PDSI • PSRI	XXVI (1921)		[71]
	Luigi Facta (1861–1930)	26 February 1922	1 August 1922	247 days		Liberal Union / Italian Liberal Party	Facta I	PPI • PLI • PLDI • PDSI • PSRI • PA			[72] [73]
		1 August 1922	31 October 1922				Facta II	PPI • PLI • PLDI • PDSI • PSRI
	Duce Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)	31 October 1922	25 July 1943	20 years, 267 days		National Fascist Party	Mussolini	PPI • PLI • PDSI • PNF • ANI			[74]
								PNF	XXVII (1924)
									XXVIII (1929)
									XXIX (1934)
									XXX (no election)
	Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871–1956)	25 July 1943	24 April 1944	329 days		Military	Badoglio I	Independents • DC • PLI	Parliament abolished		[75] [76]
		24 April 1944	18 June 1944				Badoglio II	DC • PCI • PLI • PSIUP • PdA • PDL
	Ivanoe Bonomi (1873–1951)	18 June 1944	12 December 1944	1 year, 3 days		Labour Democratic Party	Bonomi II	DC • PCI • PLI • PSIUP • PdA • PDL			[77] [78]
		12 December 1944	21 June 1945				Bonomi III	DC • PCI • PLI • PDL	National Council
	Ferruccio Parri (1890–1981)	21 June 1945	10 December 1945	172 days		Action Party	Parri	DC • PCI • PLI • PSIUP • PdA • PDL			[79]
	Alcide De Gasperi (1881–1954)	10 December 1945	13 July 1946	212 days		Christian Democracy	De Gasperi I	DC • PCI • PLI • PSIUP • PdA • PDL		Umberto II (1946)	[80]

Prime ministers of the Italian Republic (1946–present)