Italy's Meloni to president: I'm ready to become PM

STORY: Meloni met the president alongside her main allies -- Matteo Salvini, who leads the far-right League, and Silvio Berlusconi, founder of the conservative Forza Italia party.

"We are ready to form a government as quickly as possible," Meloni told reporters after the unusually short meeting, which lasted barely 15 minutes.

The conservative bloc won a commanding parliamentary majority at a September 25 general election, with Meloni's party taking the most votes, putting her in pole position to become Italy's first female prime minister.