Mr. Salvini, and other right-wing popular leaders, have argued that the demise of Mr. Conte, and the lack of a broad political consensus, should lead to new and early elections, which polls show they would likely win.
But while Mr. Salvini maintained his now rote calls for early elections, the country’s most politically attuned populist was also careful not to seem overly critical of Mr. Draghi. He said his party, the League, would make proposals on Mr. Draghi’s eventual agenda, which he said, should be “filled with content, things to do.”
Mr. Mattarella’s decision to summon Mr. Draghi followed a meeting Tuesday evening with the speaker of the lower house, Roberto Fico, who had been tasked last week to determine whether Italy’s bickering government could overcome a vast array of political differences that had led to the collapse last month of Mr. Conte’s 17-month-old government.
Mr. Fico advised Italy’s president Tuesday evening that he had failed.
Mr. Conte had failed as well in weeks of desperate attempts to cobble together enough support from a loose assortment of lawmakers to stay in power.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Conte, whom Five Star had plucked from obscurity only two years ago to lead the country, already seemed to fade away.
“Beyond all the arguments, of who won and lost, the substance of the situation is that in the most difficult and dramatic situation we can imagine, we pass from the hands of Conte to those of Draghi,” Mario Calabresi, who edited two of Italy’s leading papers, wrote on Twitter. “I’m going to sleep soundly. You?”
Elisabetta Povoledo, Gaia Pianigiani and Emma Bubola contributed reporting.
