Cantiere Popolare (translatable into ''Popular construction site'') is a

Christian-democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

, based in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The party's leader is

Francesco Saverio Romano Francesco Saverio Romano (born 24 December 1964) is an Italian politician and lawyer. He served as the minister of agricultures in 2011 and a member of the Chamber of Deputies between 2001 and 2018. Early life and education Romano was born in ...

, a former Sicilian leader of the Union of the Centre and, later,

minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

's fourth government.

History

The CP was launched in January 2012 as an evolution of The Populars of Italy Tomorrow (PID), a Sicilian-based

emerged in 2010 as a split from the Union of the Centre (UdC). Other subjects ( Popular Action, the Christian Movement of Workers and the Extended Christian Pact) took part to the project.

, leader of the PID, went on to lead also the CP. In the 2012 Sicilian regional election, the CP won 5.9% of the vote and obtained four regional deputies. CP took part in the February 2013 general election, siding with the centre-right coalition, and got 0.1% of the votes. Nevertheless, thanks to an agreement with

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

(PDL) party, Francesco Saverio Romano managed to run in PDL's list and be elected as MP. In October 2013, CP became an associate party of the newly-constituted

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

(FI). In 2015, Romano left FI and joined with the

Liberal Popular Alliance The Liberal Popular Alliance, whose full name was Liberal Popular Alliance – Autonomies ( it, Alleanza Liberalpopolare – Autonomie, ALA), was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy. ALA members were known as ''Verdiniani'', from the ...

(ALA) parliamentary group, in support of the

Renzi Cabinet The Renzi government was the 63rd government of the Italian Republic, in office from February 2014 to December 2016. It was led by Matteo Renzi, secretary and leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). The government was composed of membe ...

. In the run-up to the

2017 Sicilian regional election The 2017 Sicilian regional election for the renewal of the Sicilian Regional Assembly and the election of the President of Sicily was held on 5 November 2017. Incumbent President Rosario Crocetta was not his party's candidate due to his low popu ...

, the CP returned into the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

's fold and teamed up with the

Movement for the Autonomies The Movement for Autonomy ( it, Movimento per l'Autonomia, MpA) is a regionalism (politics), regionalist, Christian democracy, Christian-democratic list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The MpA, whose found ...

(MpA) under the electoral list "''Populars and Autonomists''". The list won 7.1% of the votes, obtained five regional deputies and entered the regional government led by

Nello Musumeci Sebastiano "Nello" Musumeci (born 21 January 1955) is a right-wing Italian politician. Musumeci is serving as Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies since 22 October 2022 in the government of Giorgia Meloni. He previously served as Presi ...

, the newly elected president. In December 2017, Romano broke with ALA and CP became one of the founding members of

Us with Italy Us with Italy ( it, Noi con l'Italia, NcI) is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Italy. NcI started as a federation of minor centre-right parties and, as such, was part of the centre-right coalition in the 2018 gen ...

(NcI), a pro-

centrist electoral list within the centre-right coalition for the 2018 general election.

Electoral results

Sicilian Regional Assembly

References

External links

Official website
{{Italian political parties 2012 establishments in Italy Christian democratic parties in Italy Catholic political parties Conservative parties in Italy Liberal conservative parties Political parties established in 2012 Political parties in Sicily Regionalist parties in Italy