Voting took place in 1004 towns and cities across Italy, including four regional capitals: Palermo, Genoa, Catanzaro and L’Aquila.
The centre-left won Palermo’s vote with anti-mafia magistrate Leoluca Orlando maintaining his position as mayor for the fixth consecutive term after receiving 46 per cent of the vote.
The only candidate to win outright in a major city on Sunday, Orlando has governed Sicily’s capital for 16 of the past 32 years.
Most of the elections in the remaining major cities will go forward to a second round, as no leader reached an outright 50 per cent majority, compared to the 40 per cent necessary majority in Palermo.
The centre-right fared strongly on Sunday, where Forza Italia (FI) and the Northern League (LN) put aside their differences and ran together, taking the lead in 13 of the 24 main municipal races.
Meanwhile, M5S performed much worse than expected in many cities, including Genoa, its leader Beppe Grillo’s hometown.
As Italy looks towards a national election by spring 2018, many have suggested that M5S may have already peaked.
Grillo denied his party had flopped, saying his opponents were "deluding themselves".
"Everyone is gloating, putting forward rarefied analysis on the death of the 5-Star and the return of a bipolar (political) system," Grillo wrote on his blog.
"Convince yourself this is true so you can sleep more soundly. We will continue forward on our path."
The second round of local elections is set to take place on Sunday, June 25.
With ANSA/Reuters
