Friuli Movement is a regionalist

Regionalism (politics)

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...

 political party active in Friuli

Friuli

Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 since 1966.

The party is currently active, but has lost importance. Most of its former members, notably including Roberto Visentin, Pietro Fontanini and Sergio Cecotti, left to form Lega Nord Friuli

Lega Nord Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Lega Nord Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a regionalist political party in Italy which is the regional section of Lega Nord in Friuli-Venezia Giulia....

, since 1990.

History

In 1966 a group of Friulian nationalists led by Gino di Caporiacco, Fausto Schiavi and Corrrado Cecotti, with the convinced support of part of the Catholic clergy, launched the Friuli Movement.

The party was represented in the Regional Council of Friuli-Venezia Giulia from 1968 to 1993 and, again, from 1998 to 2003. Its best electoral result was in the 1968 regional election

Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election, 1968

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election of 1968 took place on 26 May 1968.Christian Democracy was by far the largest party, largely ahead of the Italian Communist Party which came second. After the election Alfredo Berzanti, the incumbent Christian Democratic President, formed a government with...

, when it won 5.1% of the vote and three regional deputies. In the 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 the party suffered a decline in term of votes and it was later replaced by Lega Nord Friuli, which was much more successful.

In the 2003 regional election

Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election, 2003

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election of 2003 took place on 8 June 2003.Riccardo Illy, a centre-left independent, who had been Mayor of Trieste, defeated Alessandra Guerra, leading member of Lega Nord Friuli-Venezia Giulia.-Results:Source:...

 the party supported the candidacy of Alessandra Guerra (Lega Nord, formerly a member of MF too) for President, while five years later

Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election, 2008

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional election of 2008 took place on 13–14 April 2008.Former President Renzo Tondo defeated incumbent Riccardo Illy .-Results:Source:...

 it gave its support to the centre-left incumbent President Riccardo Illy

Riccardo Illy

-Biography:Riccardo Illy was born in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. His name shows Hungarian origins.As a young man he worked as a skiing instructor at Piancavallo and a sailing instructor at Monfalcone. He married Rossana Bettini, food and wine journalist, when he was very young...

. In both cases the candidate supported by the MF was defeated.

Currently the party has almost no political organization. Since 2003 it has been conducted by Marco De Agostini (secretary), Adriano Ceschia (president) and Alberto di Caporiacco (spokesperson), but in 2008 the latter, who supported an alliance with the centre-right, left the party.