“It's definitely a defeat for us. Losing Rome and Turin is a blow, it's painful,” Matteo Orfini, president of the Democratic Party (PD), said in an interview with La Stampa daily.
The city elections have been a closely-watched barometer of Italian politics.
Renzi's political strength has weakened in recent months. Rome in particular is seen by some analysts as a springboard for general elections due in 2018.
Sunday's polls saw the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) sweep to power in the capital and in the northern industrial city of Turin.
Virginia Raggi, 37, was elected as Rome's first female mayor, trouncing the PD candidate, Roberto Giachetti, in a 67-to-33 percent share of the vote.
The anti-establishment M5S also claimed control of Turin, where another woman, Chiara Appendino, 31, took 54.56 percent, ousting the long-serving mayor, Piero Fassino, a PD heavyweight.
The PD had some satisfaction by winning in Milan, Italy's principal economic hub, against a centre-right opponent.
Orfini said the results from the various cities bore out M5S's tactics, of forging local alliances with rightwing or far-right candidates to gain the votes of their supporters for the second round of voting.
The PD's leadership is to meet on Friday to analyse the outcome of the elections, Orfini said.
POLITICS
Italy’s ruling party says Rome defeat was ‘painful’ blow
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's party on Monday said the outcome of municipal elections was a "painful" blow after Italy's populist movement notched up spectacular gains.
POLITICS
Italian PM Meloni’s ally gets EU Commission vice president job
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday named Raffaele Fitto, a member of PM Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, executive vice president in the next European Commission, sparking concern among centre-left lawmakers.
Fitto, 55, will be in charge of “cohesion and reforms” and become one of von der Leyen’s key lieutenants in the European Union’s executive body, despite concerns from EU lawmakers on the left and in the centre.
“He will be responsible for the portfolio dealing with cohesion policy, regional development and cities,” von der Leyen told a press conference.
Writing on X, Meloni called the choice of Fitto, a member of her Brothers of Italy party, “an important recognition that confirms the newfound central role of our nation in the EU”.
“Italy is finally back as a protagonist in Europe,” she added.
Currently Italy’s European affairs minister, Fitto knows Brussels well and is widely regarded as one of the more moderate faces of Meloni’s government.
But as a member of her party, which once called for Rome to leave the eurozone, his potential appointment to such a powerful post had sparked alarm ahead of von der Leyen’s official announcement.
Centrist French MEP Valerie Hayer described it as “untenable” and Fitto is likely to face a stormy confirmation hearing before the European Parliament.
“Italy is a very important country and one of our founding members, and this has to reflect in the choice,” von der Leyen said of his nomination.
READ ALSO: EU chief to hand economy vice-president job to Italian PM Meloni’s party
Fitto was elected three times to the European Parliament before joining Meloni’s administration in 2022, when was charged with managing Italy’s share of the EU’s vast post-Covid recovery plan.
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