ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi picked Paolo Gentiloni, a close ally and former communications minister, to be his new foreign minister on Friday, a surprise decision as Gentiloni had not been seen as a candidate for the post.
He will replace Federica Mogherini, who left the foreign ministry this week to become the EU's new top diplomat.
Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, who had been among a handful of candidates seen in the running for the position, said on Twitter that Renzi had picked the 59-year-old Gentiloni for the job. Sources also told Reuters that Gentiloni had been chosen for the post.
Gentiloni had not been mentioned in political circles as a candidate in recent weeks. Renzi had wanted to replace Mogherini with another woman, to preserve gender parity in his 16-member Cabinet, sources had said.
Gentiloni is a member of the lower house foreign affairs committee and speaks English, but he is not known as a specialist in international diplomacy.
Renzi has yet to make a statement on the appointment.
The decision to select Gentiloni appeared to have been taken after Renzi met President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday to discuss the appointment of a new foreign affairs chief, suggesting Gentiloni was a compromise candidate, although it was not immediately clear.
Gentiloni is a senior member in the prime minister's Democratic Party (PD) and is seen as a Renzi loyalist, but also as a behind-the-scenes figure who does not seek the limelight. He was communications minister in the government of Romano Prodi from 2006-8.
He takes over from Mogherini, who has been appointed the European Union's head of foreign affairs and security, replacing Britain's Catherine Ashton and giving Italy more sway in Brussels.
Renzi, 39, has faced criticism, even from within his own party, for having surrounded himself with low-profile ministers who do not overshadow his leadership and media presence.
Gentiloni has a degree in political science and is a former journalist. In the late 1990s, he was on the team that organised the 2000 Catholic Church Jubilee celebrations in Rome, and he was also in 2005-2006 the head of parliament's oversight committee for state television company RAI.
(Reporting by Paolo Biondi and Roberto Landucci,; writing by Steve Scherer, editing by Isla Binnie and Susan Fenton)