Unique Italy (''Italia Unica'', IU; ''unico/a'' translates both to "unique" and "united") was a

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 ...

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 ...

. Its leader was

Corrado Passera Corrado Passera (born 30 December 1954 in Como, Italy) is an Italian manager and banker who has held numerous executive-level positions in various industrial and financial sectors and served as minister of economic development and infrastruct ...

, a former manager (

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

Espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and ...

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been part of ...

, Poste), banker ( Intesa/

Intesa Sanpaolo Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. is an Italian international banking group. It is Italy's largest bank by total assets and the world's 27th largest. It was formed through the merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in 2007, but has a corporate identity s ...

), supporter of the

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

Olive Tree The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

coalition and minister of Economic Development in

Monti Cabinet The Monti government was the sixty-first government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. This Experts' cabinet was composed of independents, three of whom were women and was formed as an interim government. The government ran the cou ...

(2011–2013).

History

The party was launched during two conventions in February and June 2014, respectively. Passera aimed at forming a "liberal, popular and reform" alternative to

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having been ...

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) and re-unifying the centre-right, which was divided at the time between several contentious parties and leaders. At its founding congress in January 2015, the party unveiled its leadership. Led by Passera, president, and Lelio Alfonso (former spokesperson of

Future Italy Future Italy (''Italia Futura'', IF) was an Italian liberal-centrist think tank, formed in 2009 by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, chairman of Alitalia (since 2014) and former chairman of Ferrari (1991–2014), FIAT (2004–2010) and Confindustria (2 ...

, IF and

Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his polit ...

, SC), national coordinator, the party's national board notably included

Diego Bottacin Diego Bottacin (Noale, 7 September 1959) is an Italian politician from Veneto. In the 1980s Bottacin started his political career in the early green movements and in 1992 he was elected Mayor of Mogliano Veneto, an office he held until 2005. From ...

(former regional councillor in

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

for

Democracy is Freedom Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose gover ...

–DL, the PD and

Toward North Toward North ( it, Verso Nord, VN) is a liberal and federalist political association based in Veneto, Italy. The group, which seeks to represent all the North by enlarging itself outside Veneto, is a keen proponent of federalism, fiscal reform ...

–VN),

Fabio Evangelisti Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

(a former MP for the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

–DS and

Italy of Values Italy of Values ( it, Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the par ...

–IdV),

Silvana Mura Silvana or Sylvana, meaning "one who lives in the forest" in Latin, is a female given name. Notable people with the name include: * Silvana Arbia (born 1952), Italian judge and prosecutor * Silvana Arias (born 1982), Peruvian actress * Silvana Arm ...

(former treasurer and MP of IdV),

Renzo Tondo Renzo Tondo (born 7 August 1956) is an Italian politician, former President of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Early life He graduated in Political Sciences at the University of Trieste. He began his career as a hotel keeper. Career First politica ...

(a former

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

who served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

and MP for

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 and

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) and

Santo Versace Santo Domenico Versace (; born 16 December 1944) is an Italian businessman and politician who is the president and co-chief executive officer of Gianni Versace SpA, based in Milan, Italy. Since 2008 he has been elected as Member of the Chambe ...

(another former Socialist who was MP for the PdL). Pino Bicchielli (former member of the national board of

Alliance for Italy Alliance for Italy ( it, Alleanza per l'Italia; ApI) was a centrist political party in Italy. The party, which was described in its manifesto as "democratic, liberal, popular" as opposed both to " right-wing populism" and the " social-democratic ...

–ApI and former coordinator of Democratic Centre–CD) and

Marco Calgaro Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

(a former MP of DL and the Union of the Centre–UdC) joined IU by September. Among the others who joined later, it is worth mentioning

Maria Ida Germontani Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

(a former member of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

–LN and senator of National Alliance–AN). Since November 2015 IU was represented by

Guglielmo Vaccaro Guglielmo Vaccaro (born 23 February 1967 in Pompei) is a centre-left Italian politician of the Democratic Party in the faction around the Prime Minister of Italy, Enrico Letta. Biography Born in Pompei, well known for its archaeological site, ...

, elected with the PD and formerly a close affiliate of

Enrico Letta Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014, leading a grand coalition of centre-left and centre-right parties. Since March 2021, Letta has been secretary ...

, in the

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and by

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, elected with the PdL, passed through the

New Centre-Right New Centre-Right ( it, Nuovo Centrodestra, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's transformation into Forza Ita ...

(NCD) and now leader of

Identity and Action Identity and Action ( it, Identità e Azione, IDeA) is a conservative political party in Italy, whose membership stretches from Christian democracy to liberal conservatism. The party's leader is Gaetano Quagliariello, a former minister for Inst ...

(IdeA), which allowed membership to other parties through the so-called "double membership", in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Vaccaro also hinted that IU and IdeA would soon merge into a single party. Passera was supposed to run for mayor in the 2016 municipal election in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, but eventually decided to endorse

Stefano Parisi Stefano Parisi (Rome, 12 November 1956) is an Italian businessman and politician, General Secretary of Confindustria for 4 years and founder of Energies for Italy, a political party member of the centre-right coalition. Biography Origins and pers ...

, the joint centre-right candidate supported by the LN, FI, the NCD and the UdC. Consequently, the IU candidates were included in the larger "Parisi List for a Unique Milano". In September 2016 the party, which had failed to take roots in the country, was dissolved.

Leadership

*President:

(2014–2016) *Coordinator: Lelio Alfonso (2014–2016)

References

External links

Official website
{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy 2014 establishments in Italy 2016 disestablishments in Italy Centrist parties in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 2014 Political parties disestablished in 2016