Italy's president Sergio Mattarella will spend the weekend pondering how to form a government after several rounds of talks this month failed to end the political stalemate since the inconclusive 4 March national election, according to unnamed sources on Friday.
Mattarella's decision came after Senate speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati on Friday reported back to him on two days of unsuccessful talks which she mediated with the country's two largest political forces - the populist Five-Star Movement and the centre-right alliance.
Mattarella is expected to announce on Monday how he intends to form a government, according to the sources.
Mattarella on Wednesday gave Casellati her mandate to hold 48 hours of exploratory talks on a coalition government between Five-Star and the centre-right after he held two rounds of fruitless talks this month with Italy's political leaders.
Five-Star emerged as Italy's biggest parliamentary party after the March ballot while the centre-right bloc led by far-right League party leader Matteo Salvini has the most parliamentary seats.
Five-Star and the League made strong gains in the last month's election, although no party or bloc won an outright majority.
The Democratic Party has the numbers in parliament to play kingmaker in a coalition government but has vowed to go into opposition after the centre-left alliance came third in the poll.
