Italian Republican Party
Encyclopedia
The Italian Republican Party (Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal
political party in Italy.
The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini
. The party was a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
until 2010.
and, more specifically, to the democratic-republican wing represented by figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini
, Carlo Cattaneo
and Carlo Pisacane
. They were against the so-called piemontesizzazione of Italy, meaning the conquest by war of the Kingdom of Sardinia
-Piedmont of the rest of Italy. After the latter was unified under the Savoy kings, following the political lines of moderates such as Camillo Benso di Cavour, the republicans remained aside from the political life of the new country, proclaiming their abstention from elections. They however created several democratic movements. In 1871 Mazzini founded the Patto di fratellanza fra le società operaie ("brotherhood pact of the workers' societies"); however, Mazzini's death the following year and internationalism put the Republicans in a difficult position. Their power base was limited to Romagna
, Umbria
, Marche
, the Tuscan
littoral and Lazio.
In occasion of the 1880 general election, the Republicans chose to abandon abstention and participate. At the time their ranks included both members of the middle class, such as Giovanni Bovio
and Napoleone Colajanni
, and of the working class, such as Valentino Armirotti. The party was officially founded in 1895. At the end of the century the PRI was allied with the Italian Socialist Party
(PSI) and the Radical Party
, participating in the administration of large cities including Milan
, Florence
and Rome
.
PRI sided for the intervention of Italy. It aimed to support France
, considered the motherland of human rights
and to annex Trento
and Trieste
(then part of Austria-Hungary
). After the end of the conflict, the party tried to form an alliance with other left-wing parties, but the attempt failed, as the PSI at the time was strongly influenced by its "maximalist" (radical) wing. In 1921 Pietro Nenni
left the PRI to become an important leader of the PSI. In the 1920s the rise of the National Fascist Party
caused the collapse of all Italian left-wing parties, including the PRI, which was banned in 1926.
Numerous members of the party were arrested, confined or exiled and the PRI collaborated to the anti-Fascist struggle. In 1927 it joined the Concentrazione Antifascista. It also participated to the Spanish Civil War
. In 1940 the German occupation of France, where numerous Republican members were refugees, put the party in difficulty. During the armed resistance against the German occupation of Italy from 1943, PRI members were part of the provincial Comitati di Liberazione Nazionale ("National Liberation Committees", CLN), but did not participate to the national CLN, as they did not want to collaborate with Italian monarchists, who had supported the rise of Fascism.
(1946). It obtained 4.4% of the popular vote, confirming its strength in its traditional strongholds but also of being very weak in the other regions, dominated by the Christian Democracy
(DC) and the Italian Communist Party
(PCI). After that a ballot on the same day abolished monarchy in Italy, the PRI declared itself available to take a role in the government of Italy, entering the second government of Alcide De Gasperi
. In late 1946 Ugo La Malfa
and Ferruccio Parri
, formerly members of the Action Party, moved to the PRI. La Malfa would be appointed as minister in several of the following governments.
The 19th congress of the party, held in 1947, saw two main inner trends: one, represented by the national secretary Randolfo Pacciardi
, supported an alliance with the PCI; the other, led by Giovanni Conti
and Cipriano Facchinetti, considered the PCI the cause of the government's lack of efficiency. The latter was to prevail. Carlo Sforza
, a Republican, was Minister of Foreign Affairs in De Gasperi's third government
, although only as an independent. Sforza signed the Treaty of peace
and contributed to the entrance of Italy into the Marshall Plan
, NATO and the Council of Europe
. The exclusion of left-wing parties from the government in 1947 led the PRI to join the fourth government of De Gasperi. Pacciardi, confirmed as party's secretary, refused however to take a position as minister. Later, as the PCI moved nearer to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
, he changed his mind and accepted to became Deputy Prime Minister.
The 1948 general election
saw PRI as a solid ally of DC but also a reduction of the party's share to 2.5%. In the following years the strongest party faction was that of La Malfa, who refused to participate to the DC-led governments until 1962. In 1963 the party voted in favour of the first centre-left government in Italy led by Aldo Moro
. Pacciardi, who had voted against, was expelled and founded a separate movement, Democratic Union for the New Republic
, whose electoral result were disappointing and whose members returned into the PRI's fold in 1968. La Malfa was elected national secretary in 1965. The alliance with DC ended in 1974, when the Republicans left over disagreements on budgetary policies.
was formed, with La Malfa as Deputy Prime Minister. The Republican leader suddenly died five days later. In September the PRI chose Giovanni Spadolini
as national secretary and Bruno Visentini
as president. The following twelve years, first under Spadolini and then under La Malfa's son Giorgio
, saw the PRI as a stable member of the so-called Pentapartito, an alliance between DC, the PSI, the PRI, the Italian Liberal Party
(PLI) and the Italian Democratic Socialist Party
(PSDI) which governed Italy from 1983 to 1991. The PRI abandoned the coalition in 1991 in disagreement with the "Mammì bill" (named after Oscar Mammì
, a Republican) on telecommunications.
In June 1981 Spadolini became Prime Minister of Italy
, the first non-Christian Democrat to do so following 1945. Under Spadolini, an urgent decree outlawing all secret lodges, such as Propaganda Due
(which included numerous members of previous governments and of military forces), was approved. Spadolini's second government fell in November 1983 due to a strife between Beniamino Andreatta
(DC) and Rino Formica
, ministers of the Treasury and Finances respectively.
At the 1983 general election
the PRI gained its best result ever (5.1%) and became the third force, after DC and PCI, in several Italian cities, notably including Turin
. Spadolini was Minister of Defence from 1983 to 1987, under Bettino Craxi
(PSI). After 1987 general election
Spadolini was elected president of the Italian Senate
and was replaced by Giorgio La Malfa as party leader.
scandals destroyed the party which fell under 1% of the vote, making it dependent on alliances with other parties to survive under the new electoral system based on plurality
. In 1992–1994 the PRI lost most of its voters and members. The party was divided in three groups: one led by Giorgio La Malfa
joined the Pact for Italy
(Patto), a second one led by Luciana Sbarbati
joined Democratic Alliance
(AD) and a third group left the party and formed Republican Left
(SR). At the 1994 general election
some PRI members, including Sbarbati, were elected to the Italian Parliament from the list of AD, while others, including Carla Mazzuca, were elected with Patto Segni
. At that time the party seemed quite finished.
Many Republicans, including Jas Gawronski
, Guglielmo Castagnetti, Alberto Zorzoli, Luigi Casero, Denis Verdini
, Piergiorgio Massidda and Mario Pescante
, left the PRI in order to join Forza Italia
. Others, mostly affiliated to SR, including Giorgio Bogi, Stefano Passigli, Giuseppe Ayala
, Andrea Manzella and Adolfo Battaglia, approached with the Democratic Party of the Left
(PDS) and finally merged into the Democrats of the Left
(DS) in 1998. Others, notably including Enzo Bianco
and Antonio Maccanico, joined Democratic Union
(UD), The Democrats (Dem) and finally Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL).
The party continued to exist under the leadership of La Malfa, who had been elected MEP for the ELDR Group
at the 1994 European Parliament election
and who worked hard to re-organise the party, welcoming back people such as Sbarbati who had left it in the wake of the 1994 general election.
. At the 1996 general election
the party elected two deputies (Giorgio La Malfa and Luciana Sbarbati) and two senators (Antonio Duva and Stelio De Carolis), thanks to the alliance with larger parties. Duva and De Carolis switched to the DS soon after the election, but during the legislature the PRI was joined by three more deputies elected with other parties: Gianantonio Mazzocchin, Giovanni Marongiu (both former DS members) and Luigi Negri (a former member of Lega Nord and Forza Italia). The Republicans were highly disappointed by the five years of government of the centre-left and soon became critical supporters of the Prodi I Cabinet
, as part of The Clover
, a centrist parliamentary alliance with the Italian Democratic Socialists
(SDI) and the Union for the Republic
(UpR).
At the 2001
the party formed an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi
's House of Freedoms
and got one deputy (Giorgio La Malfa) and one senator (Antonio Del Pennino) elected. This led two left-wing groups to secede from the party: the European Republican Movement
(MRE), led by Luciana Sbarbati, and the Democratic Republicans
, led by Giuseppe Ossorio. The PRI took part to Berlusconi's governments and La Malfa was appointed Minister of European Affairs in the Berlusconi III Cabinet
. At the 2006 general election
Nucara and La Malfa were elected on the Forza Italia's lists for the Chamber of Deputies
, while the party decided to run under its own banner for the Senate
. Del Pennino was anyway elected senator on Forza Italia's list.
At the 2008 general election
PRI got two deputies elected in the list of The People of Freedom
(PdL), La Malfa and Nucara.
The splits inside the PRI were not finished anyway: in December 2010 La Malfa voted against Berlusconi's government
and was suspended from the party. Moreover, La Malfa, along with Sbarbati (MRE), took part to the birth of the New Pole for Italy
(NPI) instead. In May 2011 La Malfa was finally expelled from the party.
In June 2011 Antonio Del Pennino, a Republican, returned to the Senate after the death of another senator.
the Republicans, along with the other political party of the "far left", the Radicals
, were strong especially among the rural workers in Romagna
, in the Marche
and around Rome
. In the 1890s they suffered the competition with the Italian Socialist Party
for the single-seat constituencies of Emilia-Romagna
, where both parties had their heartlands. However, at the 1900 general election the PRI won 4.3% of the vote (7.3% in Lombardy
, 9.6% in Emilia-Romagna, 15.0% in the Marche, 9.6% in Umbria
and 7.2% in Apulia
) and 29 seats from several regions of Italy, including also Veneto
and Sicily
, where they had some local strongholds. After that the Republicans were reduced almost to their power base in Romagna and Northern Marche, where the party had more than 40% and where most of their deputies came from. That was why the party, which was little more than a regional party, lost many seats when proportional representation was introduced in 1919.
At the 1946 general election
, the first after World War II
, despite the competition with the Action Party, which had a similar constituency and regional base, the PRI won 4.4% of the vote, with peaks in its traditional strongholds: around 21% in Romagna (32.5% in Forlì
and 37.3% in Ravenna
), 16.4% in the Marche (26.6% in Ancona
and 32.9% in Jesi
), 11.0% in Umbria
and 15.2% in Lazio. However the PRI soon lost its character of mass party in those areas, although it retained some of its positions there, as the Italian Communist Party
conquered most of formerly Republican workers' votes, and the party settled around 1-2% at the national level in the 1950s and 1960s.
Since the 1970s, under the leadership of Giovanni Spadolini
, they Republicans gained support among educated middle-class voters, losing some ground in their traditional strongholds but also increasing their share of vote somewhere else, notably in Piedmont
, Lombardy and Liguria
, where they became a strong competitor to the Italian Liberal Party
for a constituency composed of entrepreneurs and professionals. This resulted in a recovery of the party, which had its highest peak at the 1983 general election
: after that Spadolini had been Prime Minister of Italy
for barely two years, the party enjoyed a bounce which lead it to the 5.1% of the vote. This time the PRI did fairly better in Piedmont (7.7%, 10.3% in Turin
and 12.8% in Cuneo
) and Lombardy (6.9%, 12.3% in Milan
) that in Emilia-Romagna (5.1%) and the Marche (4.7%) on the whole. The party however did very well in its local strongholds such as the Province of Forlì-Cesena
(11.3%) and the Province of Ravenna
(13.9%).
At the 1992 general election
, the last before the Tangentopoli
scandals, the PRI won 4.4% of the vote (+0.7% from 1987
) and increased its share of vote in the South. With the end of the First Republic the party was severely diminished in term of votes and retreated to its traditional strongholds and in the South. After that most Republicans from the Marche left the party to join the European Republicans Movement in 2001 and most Republicans from Campania
switched to the Democratic Republicans
, the PRI was left only with Romagna (where the local party is affiliated to the centre-left) and its new heartlands in Calabria
and Sicily.
At the 2004 European Parliament election
the party won 3.8% of the vote in Calabria, while it gained a surprising 9.4% in the provincial election of Messina
in 2008. In Romagna, in alliance with the centre-left, the party won the 4.2% of the vote in the provincial election of Forlì-Cesena
in 2004 and 3.8% in Ravenna
in 2006 (6.1% in the municipal
election). In 2011 local elections the party was almost stable in Ravenna and its province (3.1 and 5.1%, respectively) and in Reggio Calabria
and its province (3.1 and 4.1%), but gained some ground in Naples
(1.5%).
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
political party in Italy.
The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
. The party was a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party is a European political party mainly active in the European Union, composed of 56 national-level liberal and liberal-democratic parties from across Europe...
until 2010.
Early times
The Italian Republican Party (PRI) traces its origins from the time of Italian unificationItalian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
and, more specifically, to the democratic-republican wing represented by figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
, Carlo Cattaneo
Carlo Cattaneo
Carlo Cattaneo was an Italian philosopher, writer and patriot.-Biography:Cattaneo was born in Milan; he died in Castagnola, close to Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino, where he had spent the last twenty years of his life in exile.A republican in his convictions, during his youth he had taken...
and Carlo Pisacane
Carlo Pisacane
Carlo Pisacane, Duke of San Giovanni was an Italian patriot and one of the first Italian socialist thinkers.-Biography:...
. They were against the so-called piemontesizzazione of Italy, meaning the conquest by war of the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
-Piedmont of the rest of Italy. After the latter was unified under the Savoy kings, following the political lines of moderates such as Camillo Benso di Cavour, the republicans remained aside from the political life of the new country, proclaiming their abstention from elections. They however created several democratic movements. In 1871 Mazzini founded the Patto di fratellanza fra le società operaie ("brotherhood pact of the workers' societies"); however, Mazzini's death the following year and internationalism put the Republicans in a difficult position. Their power base was limited to Romagna
Romagna
Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
, Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
, Marche
Marche
The population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...
, the Tuscan
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
littoral and Lazio.
In occasion of the 1880 general election, the Republicans chose to abandon abstention and participate. At the time their ranks included both members of the middle class, such as Giovanni Bovio
Giovanni Bovio
Giovanni Bovio was an Italian philosopher and radical politician. He has been a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.He was involved in setting up the radical movement "Fascio della democrazia" in 1883....
and Napoleone Colajanni
Napoleone Colajanni
Napoleone Colajanni was an Italian writer, journalist, criminologist, socialist and politician. In the 1880s he abandoned republicanism for socialism, and became Italy’s leading theoretical writer on the issue for a time...
, and of the working class, such as Valentino Armirotti. The party was officially founded in 1895. At the end of the century the PRI was allied with the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
(PSI) and the Radical Party
Radical Party (Italy, 1877)
The Radical Party was a radical political party in Italy.It was founded in 1877 by Agostino Bertani and Felice Cavallotti as a radical-liberal party of what was then considered the "far left", from the name of the parliamentary group the Radicals formed with Andrea Costa, the first Socialist...
, participating in the administration of large cities including Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Early 20th century and Fascism
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
PRI sided for the intervention of Italy. It aimed to support France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, considered the motherland of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and to annex Trento
Trento
Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...
and Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
(then part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
). After the end of the conflict, the party tried to form an alliance with other left-wing parties, but the attempt failed, as the PSI at the time was strongly influenced by its "maximalist" (radical) wing. In 1921 Pietro Nenni
Pietro Nenni
Pietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951...
left the PRI to become an important leader of the PSI. In the 1920s the rise of the National Fascist Party
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party was an Italian political party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism...
caused the collapse of all Italian left-wing parties, including the PRI, which was banned in 1926.
Numerous members of the party were arrested, confined or exiled and the PRI collaborated to the anti-Fascist struggle. In 1927 it joined the Concentrazione Antifascista. It also participated to the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. In 1940 the German occupation of France, where numerous Republican members were refugees, put the party in difficulty. During the armed resistance against the German occupation of Italy from 1943, PRI members were part of the provincial Comitati di Liberazione Nazionale ("National Liberation Committees", CLN), but did not participate to the national CLN, as they did not want to collaborate with Italian monarchists, who had supported the rise of Fascism.
Post-World War II
After the end of World War II, the PRI participated to the elections for the Constituent Assembly of ItalyConstituent Assembly of Italy
The Italian Constituent Assembly was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948...
(1946). It obtained 4.4% of the popular vote, confirming its strength in its traditional strongholds but also of being very weak in the other regions, dominated by the Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
(DC) and the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
(PCI). After that a ballot on the same day abolished monarchy in Italy, the PRI declared itself available to take a role in the government of Italy, entering the second government of Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics...
. In late 1946 Ugo La Malfa
Ugo La Malfa
Ugo La Malfa was an Italian politician, and an important leader in the Italian Republican Party, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa, is now president.- Early years and anti-Fascist resistance :...
and Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri was an Italian partisan and politician who served as the 43rd Prime Minister of Italy for several months in 1945. During the resistance he was known as Maurizio.-Biography:...
, formerly members of the Action Party, moved to the PRI. La Malfa would be appointed as minister in several of the following governments.
The 19th congress of the party, held in 1947, saw two main inner trends: one, represented by the national secretary Randolfo Pacciardi
Randolfo Pacciardi
Randolfo Pacciardi was an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Republican Party . He was also an officer who fought during World War I and in the Spanish Civil War.-Biography:...
, supported an alliance with the PCI; the other, led by Giovanni Conti
Giovanni Conti
Giovanni Conti was a deputy of the Kingdom of Italy and a senator in the Italian Republic.He was born in Montegranaro, Marche. He became member of the Italian Republican Party in 1912 and was elected into the Italian Parliament in 1921.He died in Rome in 1957.- References : Italian Wikipedia...
and Cipriano Facchinetti, considered the PCI the cause of the government's lack of efficiency. The latter was to prevail. Carlo Sforza
Carlo Sforza
Conte Carlo Sforza was an Italian diplomat and anti-Fascist politician.-Biography:Sforza was born at Montignoso ....
, a Republican, was Minister of Foreign Affairs in De Gasperi's third government
De Gasperi III Cabinet
The De Gasperi III Cabinet held office from 2 February 1947 until 31 May 1947, a total of 119 days, or 3 months and 29 days.* Parties in government:** Christian Democracy ** Italian Communist Party ** Italian Socialist Party...
, although only as an independent. Sforza signed the Treaty of peace
Treaty of peace with Italy (1947)
The Treaty of Peace with Italy was a treaty signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, between Italy and the victorious powers of World War II, formally ending the hostilities...
and contributed to the entrance of Italy into the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
, NATO and the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
. The exclusion of left-wing parties from the government in 1947 led the PRI to join the fourth government of De Gasperi. Pacciardi, confirmed as party's secretary, refused however to take a position as minister. Later, as the PCI moved nearer to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, he changed his mind and accepted to became Deputy Prime Minister.
The 1948 general election
Italian general election, 1948
The Italian elections of 1948 were the second democratic elections with universal suffrage ever held in Italy, taking place after the 1946 elections to the Constituent Assembly, responsible for drawing up a new Italian Constitution...
saw PRI as a solid ally of DC but also a reduction of the party's share to 2.5%. In the following years the strongest party faction was that of La Malfa, who refused to participate to the DC-led governments until 1962. In 1963 the party voted in favour of the first centre-left government in Italy led by Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
. Pacciardi, who had voted against, was expelled and founded a separate movement, Democratic Union for the New Republic
Democratic Union for the New Republic
Democratic Union for the New Republic , usually referred to as New Republic was a short-lived political party in Italy founded on 1 March 1964 by Randolfo Pacciardi, formerly a leading member of the Italian Republican Party...
, whose electoral result were disappointing and whose members returned into the PRI's fold in 1968. La Malfa was elected national secretary in 1965. The alliance with DC ended in 1974, when the Republicans left over disagreements on budgetary policies.
The Pentapartito age
In 1979 La Malfa received by President Sandro Pertini the mandate to form a new government. It was the first time for a non-DC member since the Italian Republic had been created. The attempt failed and a new government led by Giulio AndreottiGiulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
was formed, with La Malfa as Deputy Prime Minister. The Republican leader suddenly died five days later. In September the PRI chose Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini was a liberal Italian politician, the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.-Biography:Spadolini was born in Florence....
as national secretary and Bruno Visentini
Bruno Visentini
Bruno Visentini was an Italian politician, senator, minister, lecturer and industrialist.-Biography:Visentini was born at Treviso....
as president. The following twelve years, first under Spadolini and then under La Malfa's son Giorgio
Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
, saw the PRI as a stable member of the so-called Pentapartito, an alliance between DC, the PSI, the PRI, the Italian Liberal Party
Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...
(PLI) and the Italian Democratic Socialist Party
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...
(PSDI) which governed Italy from 1983 to 1991. The PRI abandoned the coalition in 1991 in disagreement with the "Mammì bill" (named after Oscar Mammì
Oscar Mammì
Oscar Mammì is an Italian former politician, a member of the Italian Republican Party who was minister of Mail and Telecommunications from 1987 to 1991.-Biography:...
, a Republican) on telecommunications.
In June 1981 Spadolini became Prime Minister of Italy
Prime minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
, the first non-Christian Democrat to do so following 1945. Under Spadolini, an urgent decree outlawing all secret lodges, such as Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
(which included numerous members of previous governments and of military forces), was approved. Spadolini's second government fell in November 1983 due to a strife between Beniamino Andreatta
Beniamino Andreatta
Beniamino Andreatta was an Italian economist and politician.He was a leftish Christian Democrat and one of the founders of the Italian People's Party in 1994.Andreatta was born in Trento...
(DC) and Rino Formica
Rino Formica
Salvatore Formica , best known as Rino Formica, is an Italian former politician.-Biography:Formica was born in Bari....
, ministers of the Treasury and Finances respectively.
At the 1983 general election
Italian general election, 1983
The Italian election of 1983 was held on June 26. The ninth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.The Pentaparty formula, the governative alliance between five centrist parties, caused unexpected problems to the Christian Democracy. The alliance was fixed and universal, extended both to the...
the PRI gained its best result ever (5.1%) and became the third force, after DC and PCI, in several Italian cities, notably including Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
. Spadolini was Minister of Defence from 1983 to 1987, under Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
(PSI). After 1987 general election
Italian general election, 1987
The Italian election of 1987 was held on June 14. Italian citizens chose the tenth Parliament of the Italian Republic.This election marked the final inversion of the trend of the entire republican history of Italy: for the first time, the distance between the Christian Democrats and the Communists...
Spadolini was elected president of the Italian Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
and was replaced by Giorgio La Malfa as party leader.
Diaspora
The early-1990s TangentopoliTangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...
scandals destroyed the party which fell under 1% of the vote, making it dependent on alliances with other parties to survive under the new electoral system based on plurality
Plurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
. In 1992–1994 the PRI lost most of its voters and members. The party was divided in three groups: one led by Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa
Giorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
joined the Pact for Italy
Pact for Italy
The Pact of Italy was a centrist electoral coalition in Italy, launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994....
(Patto), a second one led by Luciana Sbarbati
Luciana Sbarbati
Luciana Sbarbati is an Italian politician andMember of the European Parliamentfor Centralwith the Movimento Repubblicani Europei,Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on...
joined Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Italy)
The Democratic Alliance was an Italian political party founded in 1993, with the intent of becoming the container of an alliance of centre-left forces. However, the project did not succeed, and it presented itself as a minor party, mainly composed of former Republicans and former Communists...
(AD) and a third group left the party and formed Republican Left
Republican Left
The Republican Left was an Italian political party founded on January 30, 1994 after the Italian Republican Party split....
(SR). At the 1994 general election
Italian general election, 1994
An early national general election was held in Italy on March 27, 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right alliance won handily the election for the Chamber and only narrowly lost that for the Senate....
some PRI members, including Sbarbati, were elected to the Italian Parliament from the list of AD, while others, including Carla Mazzuca, were elected with Patto Segni
Patto Segni
Patto Segni was a Christian-democratic and liberal political party in Italy, named after Mario Segni.-History:The party was founded in 1993 as a split from Democratic Alliance and as the continuation of the Populars for the Reform, a split from Christian Democracy in 1992, whose principal aim was...
. At that time the party seemed quite finished.
Many Republicans, including Jas Gawronski
Jas Gawronski
Jas Gawronski is an Italian journalist and politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament for North-West with the Forza Italia , Member of the Bureau of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.Gawronski, who speaks Polish fluently,...
, Guglielmo Castagnetti, Alberto Zorzoli, Luigi Casero, Denis Verdini
Denis Verdini
-Biography:He graduated in Political Sciences and later became president of the local cooperative bank Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino.He began his political career in the Italian Republican Party, without being elected in the 1994 Italian general elections. After Silvio Berlusconi's victory in...
, Piergiorgio Massidda and Mario Pescante
Mario Pescante
Mario Pescante is an Italian politician and entrepreneur. He is a vice president of the International Olympic Committee and president of Rome's bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.-Biography:...
, left the PRI in order to join Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
. Others, mostly affiliated to SR, including Giorgio Bogi, Stefano Passigli, Giuseppe Ayala
Giuseppe Ayala
Giuseppe Ayala is an Italian politician and magistrate.A member of the Democratic Alliance and Italian Republican Party in the 1990s before he joined the Democrats of the Left in 1998. He was known as an "anti-Mafia" magistrate, and had functioned as an "anti-Mafia" judge...
, Andrea Manzella and Adolfo Battaglia, approached with the Democratic Party of the Left
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left was a post-communist, democratic socialist political party in Italy.-History:...
(PDS) and finally merged into the Democrats of the Left
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left was a social-democratic Italian political party and part of the Olive Tree electoral coalition, which merged with a number of centrist and leftist groups to form the Democratic Party on 14 October 2007...
(DS) in 1998. Others, notably including Enzo Bianco
Enzo Bianco
Enzo Bianco is an Italian politician and a member of Daisy-Democracy is Freedom. He was Minister of the Interior and Mayor of Catania.-External links:* at Italian Senate, XIII Legislature...
and Antonio Maccanico, joined Democratic Union
Democratic Union (Italy)
The Democratic Union was a small social-liberal party in Italy.It was founded in 1996 by Antonio Maccanico , Willer Bordon and Giorgio Benvenuto, both members of Democratic Alliance...
(UD), The Democrats (Dem) and finally Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL).
The party continued to exist under the leadership of La Malfa, who had been elected MEP for the ELDR Group
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (European Parliament group)
The Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party was a liberal political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1994 and 2004. The group comprised the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and its constituent national-level parties.Its predecessors have existed since...
at the 1994 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 1994 (Italy)
The European Parliament election of 1994 in Italy was the election of the delegation from Italy to the European Parliament in 1994.It was the first continental election after the scandal of Tangentopoli which destroyed the traditional republican parties of Italy: consequently, all new parties...
and who worked hard to re-organise the party, welcoming back people such as Sbarbati who had left it in the wake of the 1994 general election.
Prodi to Berlusconi
From 1996 to 2001 the PRI was part of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition led by Romano ProdiRomano Prodi
Romano Prodi is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008...
. At the 1996 general election
Italian general election, 1996
An early national general election was held in Italy on 21 April, 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic...
the party elected two deputies (Giorgio La Malfa and Luciana Sbarbati) and two senators (Antonio Duva and Stelio De Carolis), thanks to the alliance with larger parties. Duva and De Carolis switched to the DS soon after the election, but during the legislature the PRI was joined by three more deputies elected with other parties: Gianantonio Mazzocchin, Giovanni Marongiu (both former DS members) and Luigi Negri (a former member of Lega Nord and Forza Italia). The Republicans were highly disappointed by the five years of government of the centre-left and soon became critical supporters of the Prodi I Cabinet
Prodi I Cabinet
The Prodi I Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 18 May 1996 to 21 October 1998.-Sources:*...
, as part of The Clover
The Clover
The Clover was a centrist coalition of Italian parties.It was launched on 27 October 1999 and led by Francesco Cossiga, who supported the D'Alema I Cabinet since its birth thanks to his Democratic Union for the Republic . The idea of The Clover was to unify those political forces within the...
, a centrist parliamentary alliance with the Italian Democratic Socialists
Italian Democratic Socialists
The Italian Democratic Socialists were a small social-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Enrico Boselli, the party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical Italian Socialist Party...
(SDI) and the Union for the Republic
Union for the Republic
Union for the Republic may refer to:* Union for the Republic * Union for the Republic * Union for the Republic * Union for the Republic...
(UpR).
At the 2001
Italian general election, 2001
A national general election was held in Italy on May 13, 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The 14th Parliament of the Italian republic was chosen....
the party formed an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's House of Freedoms
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
and got one deputy (Giorgio La Malfa) and one senator (Antonio Del Pennino) elected. This led two left-wing groups to secede from the party: the European Republican Movement
European Republican Movement
The European Republicans Movement was a tiny social liberal political party in Italy.From 2007 to 2010 the party was an associate party of the Democratic Party, the leading centre-left party of the country. In 2011 the MRE was merged into the Italian Republican Party, the party from which it...
(MRE), led by Luciana Sbarbati, and the Democratic Republicans
Democratic Republicans (Italy)
The Democratic Republicans were a tiny liberal political party in Italy.The party was founded in 2004 by splinters from the Italian Republican Party , who wanted to get rid of the alliance with the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition. Its leader was Giuseppe Ossorio...
, led by Giuseppe Ossorio. The PRI took part to Berlusconi's governments and La Malfa was appointed Minister of European Affairs in the Berlusconi III Cabinet
Berlusconi III Cabinet
The Berlusconi III Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 23 April 2005 to 5 May 2006. It was the 58th cabinet of the Italian Republic, and the second cabinet of the XIV Legislature.Composition of the governemnt:...
. At the 2006 general election
Italian general election, 2006
In the Italian general election, 2006 for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy held on April 9 and April 10, 2006 the incumbent prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right House of Freedoms, was narrowly defeated by Romano Prodi, leader of the center-left The...
Nucara and La Malfa were elected on the Forza Italia's lists for the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
, while the party decided to run under its own banner for the Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
. Del Pennino was anyway elected senator on Forza Italia's list.
At the 2008 general election
Italian general election, 2008
A snap general election was held in Italy on 13 April and 14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and the unsuccessful tentative...
PRI got two deputies elected in the list of The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....
(PdL), La Malfa and Nucara.
Re-unification
The common battle in Parliament against electoral reform favored a reconciliation between the MRE and the PRI. During the III congress of the MRE in February 2009, the two parties signed a joint declaration under which, despite their different coalition allegiances, the two parties pledged to join forces in Parliament on some key issues such as civil liberties and freedom of research. In October a joint committee was installed in order to reach an agreement of re-unification of the two parties. By February 2011 the PRI was joined by both the MRE and the Democratic Republicans.The splits inside the PRI were not finished anyway: in December 2010 La Malfa voted against Berlusconi's government
Berlusconi IV Cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011.As of July 2011, it was composed of 24 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 39 under-secretaries, for a total of 67 members.-Sources:*...
and was suspended from the party. Moreover, La Malfa, along with Sbarbati (MRE), took part to the birth of the New Pole for Italy
New Pole for Italy
The New Pole for Italy , referred also either as the Third Pole or Pole of the Nation , is a centre-right coalition of parties in Italy....
(NPI) instead. In May 2011 La Malfa was finally expelled from the party.
In June 2011 Antonio Del Pennino, a Republican, returned to the Senate after the death of another senator.
Popular support
Throughout the Kingdom of ItalyKingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
the Republicans, along with the other political party of the "far left", the Radicals
Radical Party (Italy, 1877)
The Radical Party was a radical political party in Italy.It was founded in 1877 by Agostino Bertani and Felice Cavallotti as a radical-liberal party of what was then considered the "far left", from the name of the parliamentary group the Radicals formed with Andrea Costa, the first Socialist...
, were strong especially among the rural workers in Romagna
Romagna
Romagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
, in the Marche
Marche
The population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...
and around Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. In the 1890s they suffered the competition with the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
for the single-seat constituencies of Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
, where both parties had their heartlands. However, at the 1900 general election the PRI won 4.3% of the vote (7.3% in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, 9.6% in Emilia-Romagna, 15.0% in the Marche, 9.6% in Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
and 7.2% in Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
) and 29 seats from several regions of Italy, including also Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, where they had some local strongholds. After that the Republicans were reduced almost to their power base in Romagna and Northern Marche, where the party had more than 40% and where most of their deputies came from. That was why the party, which was little more than a regional party, lost many seats when proportional representation was introduced in 1919.
At the 1946 general election
Italian general election, 1946
The Italian general election of 2 June 1946 was the first Italian election after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly...
, the first after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, despite the competition with the Action Party, which had a similar constituency and regional base, the PRI won 4.4% of the vote, with peaks in its traditional strongholds: around 21% in Romagna (32.5% in Forlì
Forlì
Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, and is an important agricultural centre...
and 37.3% in Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
), 16.4% in the Marche (26.6% in Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
and 32.9% in Jesi
Jesi
thumb|250px|Teatro Pergolesi.Iesi is a town and comune of the province of Ancona in the Marche, Italy.It is an important industrial and artistic center in the floodplain on the left bank of the Esino river before its mouth on the Adriatic Sea.-History:Iesi was one of the last towns of the Umbri...
), 11.0% in Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
and 15.2% in Lazio. However the PRI soon lost its character of mass party in those areas, although it retained some of its positions there, as the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
conquered most of formerly Republican workers' votes, and the party settled around 1-2% at the national level in the 1950s and 1960s.
Since the 1970s, under the leadership of Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini was a liberal Italian politician, the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.-Biography:Spadolini was born in Florence....
, they Republicans gained support among educated middle-class voters, losing some ground in their traditional strongholds but also increasing their share of vote somewhere else, notably in Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, Lombardy and Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
, where they became a strong competitor to the Italian Liberal Party
Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...
for a constituency composed of entrepreneurs and professionals. This resulted in a recovery of the party, which had its highest peak at the 1983 general election
Italian general election, 1983
The Italian election of 1983 was held on June 26. The ninth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.The Pentaparty formula, the governative alliance between five centrist parties, caused unexpected problems to the Christian Democracy. The alliance was fixed and universal, extended both to the...
: after that Spadolini had been Prime Minister of Italy
Prime minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
for barely two years, the party enjoyed a bounce which lead it to the 5.1% of the vote. This time the PRI did fairly better in Piedmont (7.7%, 10.3% in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
and 12.8% in Cuneo
Cuneo
Cuneo is a city and comune in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the third largest of Italy’s provinces by area...
) and Lombardy (6.9%, 12.3% in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
) that in Emilia-Romagna (5.1%) and the Marche (4.7%) on the whole. The party however did very well in its local strongholds such as the Province of Forlì-Cesena
Province of Forlì-Cesena
The Province of Forlì-Cesena is a province in the Emilia–Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Forlì.It has an area of 2,377 km², and a total population of 371,318 . There are 30 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Forlì-Cesena...
(11.3%) and the Province of Ravenna
Province of Ravenna
The Province of Ravenna is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ravenna.It has an area of 1,858 km², and a total population of 365,369 . There are 18 comuni in the province , Comuni of the Province of Ravenna. As of May 31, 2005, the main comuni by...
(13.9%).
At the 1992 general election
Italian general election, 1992
The Italian general elections of 1992 were held on the 5 April 1992.The 1992 elections were the first without the traditionally second most important political force in Italy, the Italian Communist Party , which had been disbanded in 1991...
, the last before the Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...
scandals, the PRI won 4.4% of the vote (+0.7% from 1987
Italian general election, 1987
The Italian election of 1987 was held on June 14. Italian citizens chose the tenth Parliament of the Italian Republic.This election marked the final inversion of the trend of the entire republican history of Italy: for the first time, the distance between the Christian Democrats and the Communists...
) and increased its share of vote in the South. With the end of the First Republic the party was severely diminished in term of votes and retreated to its traditional strongholds and in the South. After that most Republicans from the Marche left the party to join the European Republicans Movement in 2001 and most Republicans from Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
switched to the Democratic Republicans
Democratic Republicans (Italy)
The Democratic Republicans were a tiny liberal political party in Italy.The party was founded in 2004 by splinters from the Italian Republican Party , who wanted to get rid of the alliance with the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition. Its leader was Giuseppe Ossorio...
, the PRI was left only with Romagna (where the local party is affiliated to the centre-left) and its new heartlands in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
and Sicily.
At the 2004 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2004
Elections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom...
the party won 3.8% of the vote in Calabria, while it gained a surprising 9.4% in the provincial election of Messina
Province of Messina
Messina is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina.-Geography and demography :...
in 2008. In Romagna, in alliance with the centre-left, the party won the 4.2% of the vote in the provincial election of Forlì-Cesena
Province of Forlì-Cesena
The Province of Forlì-Cesena is a province in the Emilia–Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Forlì.It has an area of 2,377 km², and a total population of 371,318 . There are 30 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Forlì-Cesena...
in 2004 and 3.8% in Ravenna
Province of Ravenna
The Province of Ravenna is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ravenna.It has an area of 1,858 km², and a total population of 365,369 . There are 18 comuni in the province , Comuni of the Province of Ravenna. As of May 31, 2005, the main comuni by...
in 2006 (6.1% in the municipal
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
election). In 2011 local elections the party was almost stable in Ravenna and its province (3.1 and 5.1%, respectively) and in Reggio Calabria
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...
and its province (3.1 and 4.1%), but gained some ground in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
(1.5%).
Leadership
- Secretary: Randolfo PacciardiRandolfo PacciardiRandolfo Pacciardi was an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Republican Party . He was also an officer who fought during World War I and in the Spanish Civil War.-Biography:...
(1945–1949), Oronzo Reale (1949–1964), Oddo Biasini / Claudio Salmoni / Emanuele Terrana (1964–1965), Ugo La MalfaUgo La MalfaUgo La Malfa was an Italian politician, and an important leader in the Italian Republican Party, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa, is now president.- Early years and anti-Fascist resistance :...
(1965–1975), Oddo Biasini (1975–1979), Giovanni SpadoliniGiovanni SpadoliniGiovanni Spadolini was a liberal Italian politician, the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.-Biography:Spadolini was born in Florence....
(1979–1987), Giorgio La MalfaGiorgio La MalfaGiorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
(1987–1993), Giorgio Bogi (1993–1994), Giorgio La MalfaGiorgio La MalfaGiorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
(1994–2001), Francesco Nucara (2001–present) - President: Oronzo Reale (1965–1975), Ugo La MalfaUgo La MalfaUgo La Malfa was an Italian politician, and an important leader in the Italian Republican Party, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa, is now president.- Early years and anti-Fascist resistance :...
(1975–1979), Bruno VisentiniBruno VisentiniBruno Visentini was an Italian politician, senator, minister, lecturer and industrialist.-Biography:Visentini was born at Treviso....
(1979–1992), Guglielmo Negri (1995–2000), Giorgio La MalfaGiorgio La MalfaGiorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
(2001–2006)
- Party Leader in the Chamber of DeputiesItalian Chamber of DeputiesThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
: Randolfo PacciardiRandolfo PacciardiRandolfo Pacciardi was an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Republican Party . He was also an officer who fought during World War I and in the Spanish Civil War.-Biography:...
(1946–1947), Cipriano Facchinetti (1947), Cino Macrelli (1947–1948), unknown (1948–1953), Cino Macrelli (1953–1962), Oronzo Reale (1962–1963), Ugo La MalfaUgo La MalfaUgo La Malfa was an Italian politician, and an important leader in the Italian Republican Party, of which his son, Giorgio La Malfa, is now president.- Early years and anti-Fascist resistance :...
(1963–1973), Oronzo Reale (1973–1974), Oddo Biasini (1974–1979), Oscar MammìOscar MammìOscar Mammì is an Italian former politician, a member of the Italian Republican Party who was minister of Mail and Telecommunications from 1987 to 1991.-Biography:...
(1979–1981), Adolfo Battaglia (1981–1987), Antonio Del Pennino (1987–1993), Giuseppe Galasso (1993), Alfredo Bianchini (1993–1994), Luciana SbarbatiLuciana SbarbatiLuciana Sbarbati is an Italian politician andMember of the European Parliamentfor Centralwith the Movimento Repubblicani Europei,Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on...
(1994–2001), Giorgio La MalfaGiorgio La MalfaGiorgio La Malfa is an Italian politician.-Biography:La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and minister....
(2001–2006), Francesco Nucara (2006–present)