It's been reported the International Monetary Fund could bail out Italy with up to 600 billion euros ($US794 billion).
Prime Minister Mario Monti is under pressure to speed up austerity measures. Italy was forced to pay record interest rates in a 10 billion euro auction of Treasury bills on Friday.
La Stampa newspaper reports the funding would give Mr Monti a window of up to 1½ years to implement budget cuts and reforms, by removing the necessity of having to refinance the debt.
It says the IMF would guarantee rates of 4% or 5% on the loan, far better than the borrowing costs on commercial markets.
Italy needs to refinance debt worth about 400 billion euros next year.
