Duties invested in the Italian executive government generally are not administered by the Presidency, but by the individual ministries.

For a long time, the Prime Minister was not very prominent in his own right, separate from the government and the individual ministries which he controlled.

Thus, until 1960, the headquarters of the Presidency of the Council was in the Palazzo del Viminale - the same location as the Ministry of the Interior.

After this, the Presidency of the Council began to take shape, although not in an organic manner, since it lacked a law which regulated its entire operation.

In 1999, under the government of Massimo D'Alema the re-organisation of the presidency was carried out with Decree law no.303 of 30 July 1999, part of the Bassanini reforms.

They are under the control of the Secretary General of the Presidency, but are usually entrusted to an Undersecretary of State or a Minister without portfolio.