Italian Political Parties

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 alone: parties thus form political alliances and coalition governments.

In the 2022 general election four groupings obtained most of the votes and most of the seats in the two houses of the Italian Parliament: a centre-right coalition, composed of Brothers of Italy, Lega, Forza Italia, and minor allies; a centre-left coalition, composed of the Democratic Party and minor allies; the anti-establishment Five Star Movement; the liberal Action – Italia Viva.

Coalitions of parties for regional elections can be slightly different from those for general elections, due to different regional conditions (for instance, in some regions the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party are in coalition, but not in other ones) and the presence of several regional parties, some of which active only at regional level.

History

The first modern political party in Italy was the Italian Socialist Party, founded in 1892. Until then the main political groupings of the country, the Historical Right and the Historical Left, were not classifiable as parties, but as simple groups of notables, each with their own electoral fiefdom, that joined together according to their own ideas. These two political groups were considered the two poles of the liberal area. On the other hand, the far-left was represented, as well as by Socialists and Radicals, also by Republicans, that organized themselves into a party only in 1895.

From the beginning the Italian Socialist Party envisaged itself as a mass party (a form of party that will predominate throughout the twentieth century), and it was followed a few years later by the Italian People's Party, founded by Don Luigi Sturzo in 1919. Both parties obtained notable electoral successes until the advent of fascism, contributing decisively to the loss of strength and authority of the old liberal ruling class, which had not been able to structure itself in a party form capable of facing the new challenges of society. In 1921, from a split of the Socialist Party, another important Italian party was born, the Communist Party of Italy, that, at the time of its foundation, was no different from the communist parties in the other European countries, much smaller than the socialist or social democratic parties, and was lacking effective roots in the masses and in the proletarian class, preferring a role of revolutionary vanguard. Also in 1921, Benito Mussolini gave birth to the National Fascist Party, from the transformation of the previous ''Fasci Italiani di Combattimento'' movement. In October 1922 Mussolini led the so-called March on Rome, which led him to be appointed Prime Minister. In 1926, through the so-called ''leggi fascistissime'' (), all parties were dissolved except the National Fascist Party, which thus remained the only party active in the Kingdom of Italy until the fall of the fascist regime, which took place on 25 July 1943. On 9 September 1943 the anti-fascist parties (the Christian Democracy, the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Action Party, the Labour Democratic Party and the Italian Liberal Party) re-organized themselves into the National Liberation Committee, which gained official recognition as the representative of the Italian resistance movement. The parties of the CLN then led the governments of Italy from the liberation of Rome in 1944 until 1947.

Between 1948 and 1994, Italian politics was dominated by two major parties: the Christian Democracy, the main party of government, and the Italian Communist Party, the main opposition party. During its almost fifty years in government, Christian Democracy chose its coalition partners among four parties: the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Democratic Socialist Party, the Italian Liberal Party and the Italian Republican Party. On the other hand, along with the Italian Communist Party, the other relevant opposition party was the post-fascist Italian Social Movement.

For 46 consecutive years, the Christian Democrats led the Italian government (except for the periods 1981–82 and 1983–86). Between 1981 and 1991, they led a coalition government with the Socialists, the Social Democrats, the Republicans and the Liberals (named ''Pentapartito''). That was the time when several northern regional parties demanding autonomy organised themselves at the regional level. In 1991 they federated themselves into the Lega Nord, which became the country's fourth largest party in the 1992 general election.

In 1992–94, the political system was shaken by a series of corruption scandals known collectively as ''Tangentopoli''. These events led to the disappearance of the five parties of government. Consequently, the Communists, who had evolved to become Democratic Party of the Left in 1991, and the post-fascists, who launched National Alliance in 1994, gained strength. Following the 1994 general election, media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi became Prime Minister at the head of a coalition composed mainly of three parties: his brand-new party Forza Italia (joined by several members of defunct mainstream parties), National Alliance and Lega Nord.

Between 1996 and 2008, Italian political parties were organised into two big coalitions, the centre-right Pole for Freedoms (which was renamed House of Freedoms after the re-entry of Lega Nord in 2000) and The Olive Tree (part of a new broader coalition named The Union) on the centre-left. The latter governed from 1996 to 2001 and again between 2006 and 2008, while the House of Freedoms was in government between 2001 and 2006. In 2008, following the fall of the government led by Romano Prodi, the recently founded Democratic Party (established from the merger of Democrats of the Left and The Daisy) decided to break the alliance with its left-wing partners, notably including the Communist Refoundation Party, and The Union thus ceased to exist. On the centre-right, Forza Italia and National Alliance merged to form The People of Freedom, which continued the alliance with Lega Nord and won the 2008 general election.

In the 2013 general election the party system was fragmented in four groupings: the centre-left alliance led by the Democratic Party; the traditional centre-right alliance between the People of Freedom, Lega Nord and the newly founded Brothers of Italy (born from a split of the right-wing of the People of Freedom); Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement; and a new centrist coalition around the outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti's Civic Choice. In November 2013, the National Council of the People of Freedom, at the behest of Berlusconi, suspended all party activities, in order to relaunch Forza Italia.

In the 2018 general election the major groupings were reduced to three: the centre-right composed of Lega (evolution on a national scale of the Lega Nord wanted by Matteo Salvini, that made it become the coalition's largest party for the first time), Forza Italia, Brothers of Italy and minor allies; the Five Star Movement (which was the most voted party); and the centre-left composed of the Democratic Party and minor allies.

Active parties

Parties represented in the Italian or European Parliament

;Notes

Parties represented only in Regional Councils

Non-represented parties

Countrywide parties

Regional parties

Overseas parties

*South American Union of Italian Emigrants (est. 2006)

Defunct parties

Defunct parties represented in the Italian or European Parliament

Countrywide parties

Regional parties

Overseas parties

* For Italy in the World (2006)
*Italian Associations in South America (2005–c.2008)

Defunct parties represented only in Regional Councils

;Notes

Defunct non-represented parties

;Notes

See also

*List of political coalitions in Italy
*List of parliamentary groups in Italy
*List of political parties by region
*Table of political parties in Europe by pancontinental organisation

References

{{List of political parties in Europe

Italy

Italy