The government easily survived a confidence vote on Tuesday as centre-left MPs threw their weight behind an emergency decree aimed at resolving a trash crisis in the Naples area.
The decree, which identifies sites for new refuse dumps and gives state officials special powers, is to go before the House for a final approval on Wednesday.
Tuesday's confidence motion, which demonstrated political support for the government on the trash measure, was approved in the House by a margin of 91 votes.
Communist and Green MPs said they had doubts about the government's emergency decree, especially where the choice of new sites was concerned, but had wanted to confirm their broader support for the government.
As MPs were voting in the House, in the Campania region around Naples anger simmered over the mountains of rubbish which have lain in the streets sometimes for weeks.
In the town of Cercola infuriated residents protested by emptying rubbish into the street and blocking a road with trash bins.
"We've been abandoned by everyone," said a woman protestor. "Flies, mosquitos and rats are running the show now".
Meanwhile residents of Terzigno, one of the towns identified as the site of a new dump, staged a sit-in at the town hall and demanded to see Civil Protection chief Guido Bertolaso, who has been put in charge of resolving the crisis.
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Campania has suffered repeated trash emergencies in recent years but the current one has drawn international attention.
UIL union leader Luigi Angeletti expressed his dismay after meeting Campania delegates in Naples and hearing their reports.
"The image that Naples is offering to the world with this trash crisis is destroying every possibility of attracting investment and launching development," he said
Last week the European Commission started infringement proceedings against Italy over the handling of waste in the region. It underlined the "risk of the spread of illnesses and of air, water and soil pollution".
