The official results are not expected for several hours, however, polling projections appear to be pointing towards a hung parliament with more than 50 percent of the vote swinging to populist parties with anti-immigration stances.
The election campaign was dominated by immigration reforms after a suspected migrant was arrested in relation to the death of 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro in Macerata, Le Marche.
Following the arrest, a self-proclaimed neo-fascist took to streets of Macerata and shot six migrants living in the central Italian town.
Many believed the tragedy could have pushed voters towards anti-immigration parties all saying “enough is enough”.
The single party which is predicted to secure the most votes is Beppe Grillo’s eurosceptic Five Star Movement with just 32 percent.
The M5S has previously said it would not take part in a coalition government.
However a coalition of centre-right parties, including former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s League, is forecast to win up to 36 percent of the vote.
The dismembered body Miss Mastropietro was found stuffed into two suitcases, in a ditch in the countryside near Macerata on January 31.
A young Nigerian immigrant Innocent Oseghale has been held on suspicion of murder and three others are also said to be under investigation.
Pamela’s mum, Alessandra Verni, said: ”It is inhuman what they did to my daughter, an absurd violence. Pamela’s death could have been avoided.”
Meanwhile the leader of the centre-right League party, Mr Salvini condemned the alleged ‘revenge’ killings of the six migrants, adding that “violence is never the solution” but blamed “out-of-control migration” for “chaos, rage, social clashes”.
Mr Berlusconi of Forza Italia had previously described migrants as “a social time bomb” and proposed expelling 600,000 from Italy, although the former Italian prime minister cannot stand for elected office because he was found guilty of fraud in 2013.
Father Alberto Forconi, 74, a priest at 16th Century Santa Croce Catholic Church where migrants worship, described the tragedies in Macerata as “a real awakening”.
The priest added that years ago migrants had integrated well in the town of 43,000 people but it now did not appear to be the case.
He told The Sun: “They don’t work, don’t speak the language, don’t know the laws or the culture.
“They’re like birds in the trees. They haven’t landed in our society.”
In May 2013 around four percent of Italians saw immigration as one of their two key issues but by November 2017 the figure was is understood to be around 33 percent.