Italy's president has asked political neophyte Giuseppe Conte to try to form a government, giving the euroskeptic 5-Star Movement and anti-immigrant League their first shot at running western Europe's first populist government.

President Sergio Mattarella met with Conte, a law professor with no political experience, for nearly two hours Wednesday amid skittish markets and concerns in Brussels that Europe's third-largest economy was embarking on a populist plunge.

With the mandate in hand, Conte must now huddle with the 5-Stars and League to finalize a list of Cabinet ministers to present to the president. Once the government is sworn in, its program will be put to confidence votes in both houses of the Italian parliament, where the two blocs have a slight majority.

The law professor has confirmed the country's place in the European Union and international affairs, but says his first priority is to be the "defense lawyer of the Italian people."

Conte says he is aware of the "delicate and difficult phase" Italy is in and committed to working with European and international allies. His comments were aimed at soothing jittery markets and European capitals wary of the euroskeptic program of Conte's populist backers.