These new young politicians have given us the confidence to start dreaming again to believe there is a better politics, and a better future for Italy in general.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We would certainly encourage the Italian government to put forward an ambitious agenda of reform.
I hope that my government can help change Italian mentality.
Businessmen should not put their finger in politics, because they tend to think only of their own self-interest. But I worry about the low morale in Italian industry and the lack of government initiatives to help the poor.
The Italians have their priorities right: They're driven, they do their work, but they really enjoy the day-to-day and they don't put off the enjoyment of the everyday for some future goal.
To see how many Italians are going out of Italy, the sort of exodus, a great generation leaving my country, I think is the worst nightmare for me as prime minister but also for the country, of course.
Maybe we like our politicians to appear like bumbling oafs. It certainly never did Ronald Reagan or George Bush any harm. The Italians still seem enamoured of Silvio Berlusconi - a man whose entry into a room is less likely to be greeted with the Italian national anthem than by the Benny Hill theme tune.
Yes, young men, Italy owes to you an undertaking which has merited the applause of the universe. You have conquered and you will conquer still, because you are prepared for the tactics that decide the fate of battles.
Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome.
Italy remained attached to conservatism. It had a political class that lived in the past and didn't build the future. The past is our strength, but it risks becoming our ruin if we walk with our heads turned backwards.
I'm aware of the urgency to give Italy a government in the fullness of its powers, to reassure the citizens, and to face with utmost commitment and determination international, economic and social priorities.