Italian public debt has swelled to its highest ever level, reaching €2.014 trillion in October, the Bank of Italy said today.
The increase highlighted the country's fragile financial state in spite of the raft of austerity measures and reforms imposed by Prime Minister Mario Monti.
The Italian economy, the third-largest in the euro zone, is in recession as the government has enacted spending cuts and tax hikes.
The latest figures show the debt pile has risen by 3.7% since January 2012, when it was €1.94 trillion.
With debts worth 126% of the country's annual economic output, Italy has the second-highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the euro zone, behind only Greece.
According to consumer group Codacons, Italy's debt load works out at €82,192 per household - up €4,400 on the beginning of the year.
''The Monti government would do well to consider that you don't bring down debt only with taxes, but through an increase in revenues due to the generation of more wealth," Codacons said in a statement.
The consumer group also criticised Monti for not doing more to cut waste, and specifically for dropping the battle to reduce the number of provinces during his mandate.
Monti was tapped by Italy's president to lead the country in November 2011 after the then-premier Silvio Berlusconi was forced to step down after international markets lost confidence in his ability to save the country from a Greek-style debt crisis.
Monti, a respected economist and former European commissioner, and his government of unelected technocrats won back a degree of international credibility through a series of tax hikes and fiscal reforms that have been unpopular - but largely accepted - at home.
Thanks to a combination of the European Central Bank offering to buy up unlimited quantities of short-term bonds in countries struggling with their debt and Monti's reforms, Italy's borrowing costs have been kept down in recent months.
However, markets were shaken this week when Monti announced that he would resign earlier than anticipated - after Parliament passes its 2013 budget, expected by the Christmas break - saying it was impossible to carry on in government after Berlusconi's political party withdrew its support in two crucial votes last week.
Since then Berlusconi has wavered over whether he would lead his party into the next election, now expected in February. The former premier on Friday said he was awaiting Monti's decision on whether he will run. Monti has not yet indicated if he will participate in elections.
But the fact that he has announced he is stepping down removes one obstacle to running a political campaign: Monti, who formally does not belong to any party, will no longer be bound to an apolitical role since his government will not be asking Parliament to back any measures.
Monti refused today to discuss his plans during a press conference at the end of an European Union summit in Brussels. ''It doesn't seem possible or opportune for me to discuss this topic," Monti said. European leaders have been vocally voicing support for a continuation of Monti's leadership.
In response, Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, told diplomats posted to Rome today that there was no cause for alarm due to the political tensions of recent days
