In a shock election result last Sunday, Italy’s anti-establishment parties better than expected with the anti-EU 5-Star Movement gaining the greatest share of votes.
Europhiles are concerned that the party could now team up with other anti-EU groups such as the Northern League and demand changes to the trade bloc.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the Northern League and potential next Prime Minister, has vowed to remain close friends with the UK after Brexit.
Demanding Brussels does not punish the UK, he said: “Great Britain is a friendly country with a long tradition of trading with Italy.
“You made a free choice with Brexit and I very much hope that it will be possible to maintain completely open trade with the EU without any penalties.”
The party’s economics chief, Claudio Borghi has also used the election result to give a stern warning to Germany not to give the UK a bad deal.
Reminding the country of the EU’s reliance of Britain for trade, Mr Borghi said it would be a mistake to risk Theresa may walking away from negotiations.
The Tuscany MP said: “There will be no blind trust in what Germany wants.
“Punishment or anything of the kind would be sheer stupidity.
“We export more to the UK than we import back and we certainly don’t want to hurt our own client.”
Meanwhile, a senator from the anti-establishment Lega party said: “The EU is becoming more and more of a German empire.
“We are seeing German bureaucrats taking over the key positions in the EU institutions.
“We can understand why Britain wanted to escape from this prison.”
He added: “We call our movement the ‘Common Sense Revolution’ and it makes no sense at all for the EU to adopt a policy of revenge over Brexit.”
Prior to the 2008 financial crash, Italy was one of the largest advocates for further integration in Europe and a strong supporter of the Euro.
However, a Eurobarometer survey conducted by the EU itself at the end of last year, highlighted a dramatic shift in the views of Italians.
Under 60 per cent supported the retention of the status quo, making Italy one of the most Eurosceptic countries in the trade bloc.
There is growing support in Rome for Italy to hold its own referendum on EU membership.