Premier Giuseppe Conte will hand his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella after a cabinet meeting early on Tuesday.
He is expected to seek a mandate from the head of State to form a new executive with a broader coalition although it is uncertain where the crisis will lead. The government no longer had an absolute majority in the Senate after ex-premier Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva (IV) party triggered a crisis by withdrawing its support.
Attempts to bring in so-called 'responsible' or 'constructor' lawmakers to support the government and make up for the loss of IV have been fruitless so far.
The centre-right opposition is calling for early elections to be held.
The three parties remaining in the government coalition, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), the centre-left Democratic party (PD) and the left-wing LeU group, have expressed staunch support for Conte.
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