Hyperbolically speaking it could be argued that the governments during Italy's First Republic were very stable in the sense that it was always the same parties involved and the general outlook was always the same*. And exactly this led to a very short average survival time for each cabinet. If things will remain almost the same anyways then why not topple the government as soon as there is the opportunity for a litte gain?
*There were of course some significant developments over time like the compromesso storico, the rise of Craxi's Socialists, etc.
Yeah, the First Republic governments were fairly stable in terms of the policies they pursued, even if which specific people pursued them changed all the time. And this long-term policy stability allowed them to advance long-term projects in a way Italian governments have just stopped doing since the 1990s (the last one was really entry into the Euro).
What you both say is true, and, I mean, it's peak Italianness.
As Il Gattopardo says: If we want that everything stays the same, we need that everything change.
I've always interpreted that line in the context of the novel as a very clever man deluding himself about his own failure, not an actually coherent philosophy. For all the clever tactical victories achieved by The Leopard during the Risorgimento, in the last two chapters of the book (Don Fabrizio's death and his daughter elderly spinsterhood) we see that ultimately everything he's been trying to preserve has disappeared.
