Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will resign amid pandemic and political turmoil - CNN

But he lost his governing majority in the Senate after his predecessor, Matteo Renzi, decided to withdraw the small Italia Viva party from Conte's ruling coalition over frustrations with the government's management of the Covid-19 pandemic and attendant economic recession.

President Mattarella can choose whether to accept Conte's resignation, and is likely to invite him to try to build a new governing majority.

If Conte receives the mandate to form a new majority, he would need to add five more senators to his existing coalition.

Conte's coalition, which was formed in 2019, is led by the center-left Democratic Party (PD) and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).