ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti easily won a vote of confidence in the Senate on Thursday, the first test of his new government of technocrats.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti reads his speech during a vote of confidence at the Senate in Rome November 17, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Monti won the vote, held after he had outlined his government's program of reforms earlier in the day, by 281 votes to 25.

He faces a second confidence vote in the lower house Chamber of Deputies on Friday, which he is also expected to win comfortably.