He faces the difficult tasks of kick-starting a sluggish economy, boosting productivity and cutting the privileges of a political class that is much maligned and largely discredited.

Irony is dead.

The key positions are occupied by old faces with the exception of Justice which has Angelino Alfano as the youngest ever for the job, 37 years old. His family hails from the Calogero Manino political current, the Sicilian DC rais convicted then freed on his notorious mafia links. Alfano did a marvelous job of expressing how much he hates the mafia on national TV, surefire credentials that put him in the class of "Kissy-kiss" Cuffaro, whose "The mafia is disgusting" campaign was apparently inspired by a reflection in the mirror. Alfano is of course a staunch defender of the mafia gate-keeper, Marcello Dell'Utri, condemned to 11 years for association with the mafia. So there will plenty of wind about "politically motivated red robes" in the years to come. He's young, he's brilliant. Famous statement: "The minute I saw him [Berlusconi] on TV I fell in love."

In the sexpot department Berlusconi has put the show-girl, Mara Carfagna, well remembered for having been the object of Silvio's advances, "Just look at her -- if I was not married I would marry her at once." It prompted the outrage of his wife who wrote a letter to an anti-Berlusconi daily demanding an immediate apology. A famous witness to the event dismissed Silvio as "cunt struck." Now that the smoldering Mara is Minister of Equal Opportunities Silvio will have her around as his daily fix. Mara's other quality is her staunch defense of heterosexual family values. But in the end she's better appreciated for the axial length of her femurs. The other beauty, who is competent by the way, Stefania Prestigiacomo is now handling Environment. She distinguished herself in the last two Berlusconi government for having entirely refurbished the ministry with her interior decorators. She has a bad habit of smashing cell phones and making mega-galactic consultancy contracts with her Syracuse friends. She actually did present a law on equal opportunities but was derided by the studs in the cabinet to the point she broke down and cried. Touching.

The best news is that Environment is no longer in the hands of the old MSI-AN left-over, Altero Matteoli. It's a mystery why he was reconfirmed twice to the job, like putting Attila in charge of catechism reform. Of course Reagan and Bush did the same with Interior, so it's in keeping. He's remembered best for inventing Mario Scaramella, who behind his escapades managed to pocket one million euro in false destruction of abusive villas. Altero also had a long case of sanctioning abusive building on Elba and revealing to the persons involved that they were under investigation. One wonders if he is also behind the fact that Scaramella learned he was under investigation. It remains strange that Altero was able to know these facts. As head of Infrastructure Altero will be responsible for the ill-fated bridge over the Messina Straits, highways, tunnels and railroads. We may only think the worst of him and make a consideration: He must have an inordinate amount of back room power to be appointed to such a key position. His power certainly cannot come from his disastrous management of Environment.

Mariastella Germini is the very young Minister of Education. Her qualifications include banning public school for immigrant children if their parent's papers weren't regular while working for the City of Milan under Letizia Moratti. An open violation of UN Rights of Children as well as the Italian Constitution. Moratti was Berlusconi's last Minister of Education, remembered for having banned Darwin from school through age 13 as being too dangerous for the formation of young minds.

Another Minister of interest is Georgia Meloni who will handle Youth. She was national coordinator of "Young Action," the rightwing youth organization of MSI-AN. The organization is known for its porridge of crackpot myths such as Tolkein, Thule, legendary crusaders, Wagnerian knights, the racist fanatic Evola, axes and Celtic paraphernalia. Well, the idea is that kids like that sort of hero worship. Elysian fields for martyrs. Let's hope Meloni has grown out of that despite her young age.

The government has plenty of talent to embark on unchartered seas somewhat far from European coasts.