Mocked for his long economic lectures and his old fogey clothes, former economics professor turned prime minister Mario Monti is trying to spruce up his image to win voters ahead of elections next month.
The 69-year-old, a former top European commissioner and dean of Italy's prestigious Bocconi University, has upped his firepower with barbs against his rivals and sound bites on his new Twitter account.
Appointed by president and parliament in 2011 to replace the flamboyant Silvio Berlusconi, Monti had never run for elected office before announcing last month that he would lead a coalition of small centrist parties.
The transition from neutral technocratic prime minister charged with resolving Italy's financial crisis to partisan politician has disappointed some of Monti's early supporters.
"From being above the fray, he has become a party man," Eugenio Scalfari, founder of leftist daily La Repubblica, wrote in a scathing editorial last week, entitled "Why Monti disappointed me".
Writing in the same newspaper, columnist Barbara Spinelli said: "The spell is broken. By rising into politics, Monti has come down from his pedestal."