Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy's first woman prime minister on Saturday (Oct 22) alongside her cabinet team, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War Two.
She takes office at an especially fraught moment, with Italy's debt-laden economy once again heading into recession, firms buckling under the weight of soaring energy bills, and splits within her coalition over the war in Ukraine.
Standing beneath the crystal chandeliers of a frescoed chamber in the presidential palace, Meloni took her oath of office as her 6-year-old daughter looked on.
Head of the nationalist Brothers of Italy, Meloni swept to victory in an election last month as part of a coalition that included Forza Italia, led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League.
