Premier Giorgia Meloni's government has distanced itself from comments about the judiciary by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's Chief of Staff Giusi Bartolozzi that sparked a major furore ahead of the March 22-23 referendum on its justice reform.
Bartolozzi called the judiciary a firing squad that had to be eliminated by voting 'Yes' in the referendum on Italian TV at the weekend.
The opposition was infuriated by the comments, with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) saying they were unacceptable and the 5-Star Movement (M5S) calling them "subversive".
Nordio said late on Monday that he was sorry about the comments and that Bartolozzi would apologize.
On Tuesday Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano told Rai Radio1 that Bartolozzi's comments had been "unfortunate".
