Italy's populist premier-designate Giuseppe Conte and his 18-member cabinet was due to be sworn in on Friday - the 65th government since World War II which took 88 days to form after the inconclusive 4 March national election.
Luigi Di Maio, head of the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement will serve as deputy prime minister and as industry and labour minister, while Five-Star's junior coalition partner the anti-migrant League party leader Matteo Salvini will be interior ministry and deputy premier as well.
The key finance minister job goes to Giovanni Tria, an economist who favours Italy's continued membership of the single currency. Tria replaces the populists' original choice of eurosceptic economist Paolo Savona who was rejected by Italy's pro-European president Sergio Mattarella, prompting Five-Star and the League to call off their original deal. Savona will be European Affairs minister in the new cabinet.
Elizabetta Trenta from Five-Star will become defence minister while Enzo Moavero Milanesi, an independent, and former European Affairs minister, will be foreign minister.
League number-two Giancarlo Giorgetti takes on the powerful cabinet under-secretary role.
After the swearing-in ceremony, the anti-austerity government will face confidence votes in both chambers of parliament, where Five Star and the League have a majority.
Conte is taking over from outgoing centre-left premier Paolo Gentiloni, who led a coalition cabinet for two years. The centre-left Democratic Party to which Gentiloni belongs had ruled Italy since 2013 but got just 18 percent of votes in the 4 March ballot - its worst ever result.
Five-Star is the largest party and the centre-right alliance led by Salvini is the biggest political bloc. Five-Star and the League polled over half the votes cast in the election and say they have a democratic mandate for their 'government of change' which plans to deport half a million illegal migrants, reverse pension reforms, slash taxes and boost welfare spending.
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