Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy's first woman prime minister on Saturday, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War Two.
Her appointment has been described as a "political earthquake" in European politics, as minorities including the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants fear their rights will be severely impacted.
The 45-year-old politician took the oath of office at the presidential palace on Saturday after her party Brothers of Italy, which has neo-fascist roots, won more than 25 per cent of the vote in snap elections in late September.
Meloni is inheriting Italy's debt-laden economy that is likely heading towards a recession and there are fractious splits within her coalition over the war in Ukraine.
Her coalition government includes the right-wing populist League of Matteo Salvini and the conservative Forza Italia party headed by three-time former premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.
Mr Salvini previously spoke out in admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticised worldwide sanctions due to the impact they are having on Italian businesses.
And Berlusconi said Putin sent him 20 bottles of vodka for his 86th birthday after the pair “re-established” relations.
Ms Meloni was horrified to hear a leaked audio recording this week that revealed Berlusconi had baselessly blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia.
Berlusconi recently called Meloni "domineering, arrogant and offensive."
The new Italian leader previously aligned with the hard-right nationalist Marine Le Pen of France and the oppressive leader of Hungary, Viktor Orban.
A huge part of Meloni's plan for the country is an anti-immigration strategy to stop boat landings, tighten up borders and fight what she describes as "the secular left and radical Islam."
Italy is one of the main entry points into Europe from North Africa and since the start of the year, 70,000 migrants have arrived on boats on the country's shores.
By law, Italy has to take care of the arrivals, but Ms Meloni is against granting automatic citizenship to children of immigrants born in Italy, has harshly criticised economic migrants and called for a naval blockade to prevent boats from leaving northern Africa.
She also has stringent gender views and wants to provide ‘alternatives’ to abortion, as well as oppose equal marriage, same-sex adoption and surrogacy.
Meloni’s list of ministers contains just six women out of 24. One of the most controversial appointments is of ultra-conservative Catholic Eugenia Maria Roccella as minister for family, birthrates and equal opportunities.
Paolo Guzzanti, a former centre-Right MP and ally of Mr Berlusconi, was blistering in his prognosis for the new government: “It won’t have a very long life.
"The government will be born dead, or at least seriously ill. It’s already full of grudges.”
