Democrats in Network (''Democratici in Rete'', DiR) were a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

faction within the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD), a

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 ...

. After the departure of Veltroni from party leadership in February 2009, ''Veltroniani'' talked about organizing their faction, but finally there was a split between the staunch supporters of the new leader

Dario Franceschini Dario Franceschini (; born 19 October 1958) is an Italian lawyer, writer, and politician, member of the Democratic Party (PD), of which he briefly became leader in 2009. Franceschini served as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and To ...

and those who soon started to criticize him. The latter, led by

Goffredo Bettini Goffredo Bettini (born 5 November 1952) is an Italian politician, founding member of the Democratic Party (Italy), Democratic Party (PD). As mentor and closest advisor of PD's former secretary, Nicola Zingaretti, Bettini is considered one of the m ...

and Michele Meta, who were mainly social democrats coming from the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) 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 (PSI). ...

launched Democrats in Network. In the 2009 Democratic Party leadership election the faction supported

Ignazio Marino Ignazio Roberto Maria Marino (; born 10 March 1955) is an Italian transplant surgeon who was Mayor of Rome from 2013 to 2015. As a surgeon, he trained with Thomas Starzl, who had pioneered liver transplantion in humans. In 1992–1993, as ...

, whose campaign was coordinated by Meta, differently from Veltroni himself and most ''Veltroniani'' who supported

. Some time after the election, the faction was disbanded. By 2011 Meta and others joined Change Italy, a new association led by Marino, while Bettini launched Beyond the Parties and became very close to

Nicola Zingaretti Nicola Zingaretti (; born 11 October 1965) is an Italian politician who served as President of Lazio and was Secretary of the Democratic Party from March 2019 until March 2021. During the 1990s, he was a prominent European youth leader, servi ...

instead.

References

External links

Official website
{{Democratic Party factions Democratic Party (Italy) factions