ANSA news agency reports that the city’s Mayor Chiara Appendino said the committee would consider whether hosting the event would yield "lasting value" for the city and the surrounding area.

Turin, which hosted the 2006 Winter Olympic ad Paralympics, is involved in an emerging three-way Italian battle with Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo to bid for the 2026 Games but overall support remains limited so far.

Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) President Giovanni Malagò told OA Sport "the intention to nominate Italy is there" but that he needs "certainties".

"I do not expose my country to wrong figures and behaviours, just by virtue of what happened in the past," Malagò added.

"Local authorities are available, but without Government we must stay still and silent."

It initially seemed unlikely that any Italian bid would be launched after the capital Rome's failed attempts for the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Hope was restored through the unlikeliest of sources when Beppe Grillo, founder of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement which polled highest in this month's Italian General Election, switched from his fierce opposition for Rome 2024 to backing a potential Turin event.

CONI is likely to inform the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of its intention to bid by the deadline of Saturday (March 31) but continues to insist it will not commit to a particular city until it has spoken with the Italian Government, which remains in a state of flux following the election earlier this month.

The governing body is making it increasingly clear behind the scenes, though, that it currently supports a Milan-led bid.

Appendino is another a 5-Star Movement figure currently in favour of a Turin bid, but others in her party remain yet to be convinced.

Public opposition has emerged already in Turin with ilgiornale reporting that Deputy Mayor Guido Montanari was embroiled earlier this month in an exchange with protesters outside the Palazzo Civico waving posters drawing attention to the debt incurred by other cities that have hosted the Olympic Games and that other European cities, such as Davos, Innsbruck and St Moritz, have opposed bids.

Montanari reportedly promised that "not a euro" of their money will be spent.

Calgary in Canada, Erzurum in Turkey, Graz and Schladming in Austria Sapporo in Japan, Sion in Switzerland and Stockholm in Sweden are other interested cities.

Those who submit have the next six months to provide more details of their bids before the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in October is due to propose official candidates.

It is likely, then, that CONI would have to confirm which city will lead the Italian attempt as soon as possible after the current process to form a Government is completed.