Updated

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has been summoned to the presidential palace in Rome to see the president, who could ask him to be premier and try to form a government.

The palace's one-line statement Sunday morning did not elaborate about President Sergio Mattarella's request to Gentiloni.

But Mattarella, in wrapping up consultations Saturday night with political leaders, said he hoped in the "next hours" to confer the mandate to form a fresh government following Matteo Renzi's resignation as premier on Dec. 7.

Renzi quit as head of the center-left government after losing a voter referendum to approve constitutional reforms. Gentiloni is a member of the same party as Renzi.

Italian state radio said Gentiloni would see Mattarella at 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT).