Rome: Italians go to the polls Sunday and Monday in a general election that could bring conservative billionaire Silvio Berlusconi back to power as the nation grapples with a sense of decline and fears that no candidate will be able to put it back on track.
The voting is being held under a discredited election law seen as fostering government instability. It comes amid worries of economic recession and disillusionment toward a political class that has failed to solve the nation's problems.
A garbage collection crisis has left tons of trash piling up on the streets of Naples. Efforts to sell the loss-making national carrier Alitalia are up in the air after a proposal by Air France-KLM has encountered the opposition of unions and political powers.
A buffalo mozzarella health scare has hurt exports and hit one of the country's culinary treasures. "Italy is no longer seen on the world stage as the Bel Paese of the arts, but as a fourth-world country," charged the 71-year-old Berlusconi, vying for his third stint as premier in the last 14 years.
Berlusconi blames the outgoing center-left government and vows to put Italy back on its feet. Despite a questionable record during his five-year term between 2001-06, he said he is the man to do the job.
His main opponent, former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, has insisted on the need of generational change - he's almost 20 younger than Berlusconi - and has promised deep reform and an ideology-free approach to tackle the country's problems.
"We need to turn the page" has been his campaign's mantra.
