Matteo Renzi has quit as leader of the Democratic Party after suffering huge losses in yesterday's Italian election.
Speaking this afternoon, Mr Renzi hit out at "extremist" parties who he said his party would not be joining.
The ex-PM added PD would be in opposition in the next parliament.
Despite overseeing a modest economic recovery, the ruling centre-left coalition trailed a distant third on 22 percent, hit by widespread anger over persistent poverty, high unemployment and an influx of more than 600,000 migrants over the past four years.
The resignation news was earlier revealed by sources within his party. His spokesman Marco Agnolotti denied knowledge of the leader's resignation when responding to the claims on Twitter.
However, at a press conference this afternoon Mr Renzi confirmed he was standing down.