ITALY . . . NEW P.M. PICKED (AND IT'S NOT BERLUSCONI)

Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro today ended a volatile, 22-day period of uncertainty at the top by naming the country's respected treasury minister, Lamberto Dini, as prime minister-designate to succeed flamboyant media magnate Silvio Berlusconi. The non-partisan Dini promised "a government of technocrats" to restore stability in a country that has seen 53 postwar governments come and go. But Berlusconi, who resigned last month after losing parliamentary support, called Scalfaro "a sphinx who minces his words" for not reappointing him. A large-scale political fight now looms, as Berlusconi presses for elections that, with recent gains in the polls, could easily return his Forza Italia party to power.