Liberamente is a liberal

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,...

-centrist

Centrism

In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...

 faction and think-tank within 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), a political party in Italy. Its main leaders are Mariastella Gelmini

Mariastella Gelmini

Mariastella Gelmini, is an Italian politician and attorney . She served as Italian Minister of Education in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet until November 16, 2011.-Political career:Gelmini was born in Leno, Italy....

 and Franco Frattini.

Founded on 20 June 2010, the faction is one of the strongest within the party as its members include eight ministers, Mariastella Gelmini, Franco Frattini, Maurizio Sacconi

Maurizio Sacconi

Maurizio Sacconi is an Italian politician from Veneto.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Under-Secretary of the Treasury...

, Stefania Prestigiacomo

Stefania Prestigiacomo

Stefania Prestigiacomo is the Italian Minister of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea.-Biography:Stefania Prestigiacomo is a graduate in Public Administration. In 1990, she became the president of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Syracuse, Sicily.In 1994 she joined the House of...

, Mara Carfagna

Mara Carfagna

Maria Rosaria Carfagna is an Italian politician and former showgirl and topless model. After obtaining a degree in law, Carfagna worked for several years on Italian television shows and as a model. She later entered politics and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia party in 2006...

, Raffaele Fitto

Raffaele Fitto

Raffaele Fitto is an Italian politician, current Minister for Regional Business in Berlusconi IV Cabinet.-Biography:Raffaele Fitto was born in Maglie, Province of Lecce. His father, Salvatore Fitto, who was an exponent of the Christian Democracy and President of Apulia from 1985, died in...

, Paolo Romani and Giancarlo Galan

Giancarlo Galan

Giancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...

, plus Mario Valducci (leader of the Clubs of Freedom

Clubs of Freedom

Clubs of Freedom is a grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.The Clubs are led by Mario Valducci, who, as one of the seven founding members of Forza Italia along with Silvio Berlusconi, had been coordinator of the "Clubs of Forza Italia"...

), Luigi Casero, Giorgio Stracquadanio

Giorgio Stracquadanio

Giorgio Stracquadanio is an Italian politician and journalist.He began his political careers in the 1980s as activist of the Radical Party in Milan with the municipal councillor Tiziana Maiolo....

, Giampiero Cantoni, Valentina Aprea, Giancarlo Serafini, Romano Comincioli, Lara Comi, Guido Podestà

Guido Podestà

Guido Podestà is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament for North-West with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection...

 and Licia Ronzulli

Licia Ronzulli

Licia Ronzulli is an Italian MEP from 7 June 2009 for the People of Freedom.-References:...

. These, along with Christopher Columbus Foundation

Christopher Columbus Foundation

The Christopher Columbus Foundation, whose complete name is Christopher Columbus Foundation for Freedoms is a faction and think tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...

 on opposite sides, represent the bulk of the former 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....

 party, merged with National Alliance

National Alliance (Italy)

National Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...

 into the PdL in 2009, and are mostly liberals or former Socialists

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...

, although the faction includes also some leading Christian democrats such as Fitto.

Liberamente was born to reaffirm the identity of Forza Italia within the PdL, in opposition to Gianfranco Fini

Gianfranco Fini

Gianfranco Fini is an Italian politician, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, leader of the center-right Future and Freedom party, and the former leader of the conservative National Alliance and the post-fascist Italian Social Movement...

's Generation Italy

Generation Italy

Generation Italy is a faction within Future and Freedom , a political party in Italy.Although most of its members come from the conservative National Alliance and were earlier members of the Italian Social Movement , the foundation was considered the cradle of social liberalism within The People...

/Future and Freedom

Future and Freedom

Future and Freedom , whose complete name is Future and Freedom for Italy is a centre-right political party in Italy....

. In 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,...

 the faction, through Prestigiacomo, approached with Gianfranco Micciché, leader of the rebels of the PdL–Sicily. This caused outrage from the Sicilian majority of the party led by Renato Schifani

Renato Schifani

Renato Maria Giuseppe Schifani is an Italian politician and a prominent member of the centre-right People of Freedom. Since 29 April 2008 he has been President of the Italian Senate. Schifani was born in Palermo.-Berlusconi's chief whip:...

 and Angelino Alfano

Angelino Alfano

Angelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...

, two leading Christian democrats and former members of Forza Italia too. When Micciché launched Force of the South

Force of the South

Force of the South is a liberal-conservative political party in Italy based in Sicily.In September 2010, after years of weighting , Gianfranco Micciché, long-time leader of Forza Italia and, later, The People of Freedom in Sicily and Under-Secretary in Berlusconi IV Cabinet, announced his exit...

outside the PdL, Prestigiacomo was very sympathetic and took part to the new party's convention, but remained loyal to the PdL.

External links

• Official website