Italy's centre-left opposition yesterday savoured a triumph beyond its wildest hopes as Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, and his ruling Forza Italia party crashed to its biggest election defeat since coming to power in 2001.

Businessmen expressed concern that the results might spell the end of what they already consider the government's half-hearted efforts at economic reform as official returns showed that the centre-left, led by Romano Prodi, the former European Commission president, had swept to victory in 11 out of 13 regions where voters went to the polls on Sunday and Monday. The opposition now controls 16 of Italy's 20 regions.