Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta presented his formal resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano on Feb. 14 after less than a year in office. Three days later, Matteo Renzi, a member of the same party — The Partito Democratico — received a mandate to form a new government. This turn of events was a planned, quiet intra-party coup, a technique to maintain power that is all too familiar in Italy after its repeated use of the strategy in the 1970s and 1980s by the Christian Democrats.

Nevertheless, as the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano notes, Renzi begins his tenure with an “original sin” — becoming prime minister without an election. Renzi must take big risks and make quick reforms to compensate for this bypass surrounding his rise to power.

Currently the mayor of Florence, Renzi will become the youngest Italian prime minister since World War II. His young age can be seen in either a positive or cynical light. On the positive side, Renzi is a young, charismatic figure with enormous ambition. As prime minister, he plans to have a more transparent and bipolar electoral system.

He is also planning to make colossal cuts to the political budget, but this has turned heads. The Italian Parliament is divided into the senate and the chamber of deputies, both of which essentially have the same legislative function and can veto one another, blocking government action. Renzi’s plan is to greatly diminish the senate’s power, essentially abolishing its position.

However, the previous Letta government failed because it lacked the power to implement its ideas for much-needed reforms. The anti-politics party, Movimento Cinque Stelle, and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party previously blocked parliamentary activity. The Italian political old guard, which will undoubtedly feel threatened by a nameless young politician, is also likely to challenge Renzi. Finally, to make matters worse, the needed reforms that Renzi seeks are unpopular because they require the dreaded austerity measures Southern Europeans detest.

It seems as though this government is Italy’s third attempt since November 2011 to find a politician who can break through the political gridlock and enact the required reforms. Renzi faces the same constraints that his predecessors did, but he does so with a younger, more energetic approach. If the national gamble pays off, Renzi “The Scrapper” will live up to his nickname.

A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Feb. 19 print edition. Vittorio Bisin is a contributing columnist. Email him at [email protected].