Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government was under fresh strain on Saturday as coalition partners hurled insults at each other in parliament at a stormy meeting that included scuffles with the opposition.
One parliamentarian from the opposition centre-left was slightly injured when he was punched in the stomach.
A member of the Northern League, a junior party in Berlusconi's coalition, was expelled from the chamber during the clash, which had to be broken up by ushers.
The incidents took place during an already stormy session to discuss a bridge loan to help pull national carrier Alitalia out of its crisis.
The scuffles broke out after Northern League parliamentarian Dario Galli criticised Chiara Moroni, a member of the New Socialists. The New Socialists are also junior members of the centre-right coalition.
The League opposes state help for Alitalila and in his speech Galli said the company's problems were exacerbated by policies of Socialist governments in the 1980s and 1990s.
League deputy Davide Caparini then scuffled with members of the centre-left opposition Margherita party. Caparini was expelled from the chamber.
Many members of the opposition later left the chamber in protest as speaker Pierferdinando Casini struggled to keep order.
Political commentators said the most worrying part of the incidents were not the physical clashes between the coalition and opposition but the insults hurled among coalition partners.
The Socialists threatened to boycott coalition meetings until the League issued a public apology for its comments criticising Moroni.
The atmosphere was already tense in the chamber when the session started because League members were blocking discussion on the Alitalia loan.
The League is demanding guarantees from Berlusconi that he will support League proposals to devolve power away from the central government and give more decision-making to the regions.
The League has brought the Berlusconi government close to collapse several times with its demands on federalism and last week the government was forced to call a confidence vote to push through pensions reform after the League tried to delay it.
But another junior party in the coalition, the UDC, has been in open warfare with the League. It opposes the federalism plan, fearing it will deprive its power bases in the poor south of badly needed central government funds.
Malaise has blanketed the government since European and local elections in June when Berlusconi's Forza Italia party lost ground to its three main allies.
Both the coalition's conservative National Alliance (AN) and Democratic Union of the Centre party (UDC) demanded a greater say in government.
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