Flamboyant former PM Silvio Berlusconi has shrugged off his bunga-bunga sex scandals to lead the right against the anti-establishment, eurosceptic 5Star Movement, founded by the comedian-turned-demagogue Beppe Grillo.
The third main contender is another former leader, centre-left poster boy Matteo Renzi who leads the Democratic Party (PD), but who stood down when he lost a constitutional reform referendum in 2016.
Some experts believe it is difficult to see how any of the three leaders could actually become prime minister.
Mr Berlusconi of Forza Italia, is appealing a ban on holding public office imposed after a 2013 tax fraud conviction but a verdict is unlikely to be delivered before the votes are counted.
Mr Grillo, a long-time critic of politicians with convictions, maintains a 1980 manslaughter sentence following a fatal car crash rules him out of the top job.
And while Mr Renzi would love to return to office his poor poll showings have forced him to acknowledge another member of his Democratic Party “team” of candidates will be chosen to lead the country if it wins.
The final decision will actually be made by president Sergio Mattarella and the newly elected senators and representatives who will invite an individual to form a government based on the election results.
And a number of contenders are being tipped for the Palazzo Chigi hotseat.
Existing PM Paolo Gentiloni 63, is well-prepared, soft spoken, fluent in French and English, and known for his velvet touch.
A Renzi loyalist who took office after the Democratic Party leader stepped down, he was at first seen as a seat-warmer for his ambitious predecessor but he is popular in the polls and many in the country have argued he should stay on.
He is popular in Brussels too with French President Emmanuel Macron saying the European Union “had much luck in having Gentiloni in these last months”.
Another possible PM is 61-year-old left-winger Marco Minniti, Italy’s current interior minister who deals with official and unofficial authorities in Libya may have helped cut migration across the Mediterranean by more than 30 percent.
His law-and-order posture is popular among Italians but his methods have been branded “inhuman” by rights groups and earned him a “Minister of Fear” nickname.
A former Ferrari boss and briefly ambassador to the EU, Carlo Calenda is another name that keeps cropping up in political circles.
Italy’s minister for economic development was elected to parliament under a quasi-technocratic ticket led by former European Commissioner and Prime Minister Mario Monti.
His fiery temper once led Mr Renzi to complain “he’s more quarrelsome than me.”
His name has been floated as the potential head of a “grand coalition” between Mr Renzi’s and Mr Berlusconi’s parties.
Outsiders for the leadership include European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, Northern League leader and anti-immigration hardliner Matteo Salvini and 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio who is standing as the official candidate for Mr Grillo’s populist 5Star Movement.