Christian Democrats for Freedom ( it, Cristiani Democratici per la Libertà, CDL) was a small christian-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 ...

History

The party was founded following a split from the United Christian Democrats of Rocco Buttiglione, who intended to abandon the centre-right alliance to join the Democratic Union for the Republic, conceived by Francesco Cossiga. The political line pursued by Buttiglione, however, was harshly opposed by leading members of the CDU: the Lombard president

Roberto Formigoni Roberto Formigoni (born 30 March 1947) is a former Italian politician born in Lecco, Italy. He was the President of Lombardy from 1995 to 2013. He is the former unofficial political spokesperson of the Communion and Liberation movement. On 21 Fe ...

and the Apulian exponent

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician and a member of the European Parliament. He is serving as the minister of European affairs in the Meloni Cabinet since 2022. Career Born in Maglie, Fitto was elected in 1999 at Euro ...

.CDU: FORMIGONI DENUNCIA, BUTTIGLIONE VIOLA LO STATUTO
/ref> On 4 April 1998 the assembly of centrists was held in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, promoted by Fitto and Formigoni. It was on this occasion that Fitto and Formigoni announced the birth of the CdL. Three senators joined the new party:

Rosario Giorgio Costa Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...

Tomaso Zanoletti Tomaso is a given name, being the Italian form of the name Thomas. Notable people with the name include: * Tomaso, variant of name Tommaso * Tomaso Albinoni, 18th-century Italian composer * Rico Tomaso, American illustrator and painter * De Toma ...

and

Ida Maria Dentamaro Ida or IDA may refer to: Astronomy *Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter *243 Ida, an asteroid * International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station Computing * Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a tech ...

. The CdL approached the Christian Democratic Centre of Pier Ferdinando Casini and the two parties made an agreement in view of the administrative elections of 1998. In 2001 CdL merged with

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 ...

References

{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy Christian democratic parties in Italy Defunct Christian political parties Catholic political parties 1998 establishments in Italy 2001 disestablishments in Italy Political parties established in 1998 Political parties disestablished in 2001