ROME, May 2 - Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi handed in his resignation on Tuesday, ending weeks of political uncertainty and opening the way for centre-left leader Romano Prodi to form a new government.

Berlusconi had contested Prodi's razor-thin victory in elections last month but was forced to concede after lawmakers elected centre-left speakers for parliament at the weekend, showing Prodi can control the assembly with his slim majority.

"They'll miss us, we were the best government the republic ever had," Berlusconi told his final cabinet meeting, ministers said.

The media baron, Italy's richest man, headed the longest serving government in post-war history -- five years, only interrupted for a few days last year when a coalition power struggle forced him to resign and reform his team.

The resignation marked the end of a turbulent spell as prime minister for Berlusconi who won power promising an economic miracle but instead presided over a period of stagnation.

It also signalled the start of a swing to the left for the euro zone's third-largest economy as Prodi brings to power his cumbersome coalition which ranges from old school communists to Roman Catholic moderates.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi asked the media tycoon to remain in office as caretaker until a new government was sworn in, the president's palace said in a statement.

CIAMPI'S CHOICE

In what must have been a painful moment for Berlusconi, who often warned Italians of the communist threat, he had personally to give notice of his resignation to the head of the communist party who is the new leader of parliament's lower house.

Asked how his brief meeting with Fausto Bertinotti went, Berlusconi said: "Very well, I have always got on well with him."

Prodi, who won the election by the smallest margin in modern Italian history, welcomed the long-awaited resignation.

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