Mr Rutelli's latest move has been to table a rival bill to that of Mr Bersani.
But Mr Rutelli is signalling that, once the budget has been passed, he expects Mr Prodi's backing.
It quotes centre-left opposition leader Francesco Rutelli calling for political unity in a time of crisis for Italy.
Mr Rutelli certainly makes the most of his charm, which has helped keep him popular as Rome's mayor.
Rising figures on the centre-left, such as Rome's mayor, Francesco Rutelli, have had too little time to gain momentum.
Francesco Rutelli, who had already run the city twice, managed to reduce the centre-left's vote from 62% to 46%.
ECONOMIST: Walter Veltroni risks being too nice to Silvio Berlusconi
The left's candidate for prime minister, Francesco Rutelli, the affable mayor of Rome, has yet to make an impact.
The minister of culture, Francesco Rutelli, said that 12m euros had been set aside to help protect the extensive ruins.
Though Mr Rutelli's plan offers safety nets to those hurt by liberalisation, someone will need to stiffen the government's resolve.
"There are exciting new finds every month, " said Mr Rutelli, "and we need this money to preserve these treasures for future generations".
Mr Rutelli, in contrast to Mr Amato, seeks to put himself across as a man of the people rather than a professional politician.
For Italian cities these days are peppered with enormous posters of the rival leaders, Silvio Berlusconi (for the right) and Francesco Rutelli (for the left).
As voting day approaches, Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right House of Liberties coalition is maintaining a clear lead in opinion polls over Francesco Rutelli's centre-left Olive Tree Alliance.
Despite his re-election last month, Rome's mayor, Francesco Rutelli, twitchy about losing his bid to bring the Olympics to Rome in 2004 (Athens won), is nervous.
Could Mr Amato, a technocrat who is letting the more outgoing Francesco Rutelli, mayor of Rome, lead the left into next year's election, have offered still more?
Sen Amato, of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, has accused Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli of "arrogance" over his decision to agree the painting's departure.
Mr Rutelli, who is standing for election as mayor of Rome next month, described the opening of the Augustus rooms as an "extraordinary event, the fruit of decades of work".
That at least is the view taken by Francesco Rutelli, one of Mr Prodi's two deputy prime ministers and the leader of the moderate, liberal wing of his heterogeneous coalition.
Most people, including left-wingers, think that Francesco Rutelli, the left's candidate for prime minister, who would be its fourth in five years if the left won, is likeable but lightweight.
But if Mr Rutelli can succeed in stiffening the government's deregulatory resolve, he will have helped to affirm a principle his rival ought heartily to endorse: that a dose of competition is good for everyone.
Two years ago Mr Rutelli switched parties again, joining a new outfit called the Democrats (not to be confused with Mr D'Alema's Democrats of the Left), which had been set up by Romano Prodi, another former prime minister who now runs the European Commission.
应用推荐