Close-up on Mario Monti’s new cabinet

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi once tapped talent from the catwalk and showbusiness to fill his ministerial posts.

But his successor, Mario Monti, has turned to the best brains in academia and business. One of them is Corrado Passera, a leading banker.

Passera, the chief executive of Intesa Sanpaolo, will lead the ministry for economic development, transport and infrastructure.

Anna Maria Cancellieri, a regional civil servant, becomes Italy’s second-ever post-war female interior minister.

Paola Severino, a lawyer and law professor, will head the ministry of justice, while Elsa Fornero, an economics professor, takes over at the ministry of labour and welfare.

Andrea Riccardi, the president of a faith organisation and a historian of the Catholic church with close ties to the Vatican, was named as minister of international and domestic co-operation.

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