''Rutelliani'' referred to the followers of

Francesco Rutelli Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016. He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...

, a former leading member of the

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, and later leader 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 l ...

. The followers of Rutelli were mainly centrists who wanted the party to be modelled on the

Democratic Party of the United States The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andre ...

and to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the Alliance of Democrats. They included both liberals and Christian-democrats. Some groups considered close to Rutelli were: * Liberal PD (also close to

Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...

) *

Democratic Ecologists The Democratic Ecologists ( it, Ecologisti Democratici, EcoDem or ED) are a green faction within the Italian Democratic Party (PD). Launched by Ermete Realacci and Fabrizio Vigni, the faction is composed by both former members of Democracy is Fr ...

(also close to Walter Veltroni) *

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/ Persons and Networks Originally ''Rutelliani'' were the secular-liberal faction within

Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ( it, Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a centrist political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within ...

, including

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...

Ermete Realacci Ermete Realacci (born 1 May 1955 in Sora, Lazio, Sora) is an politics of Italy, Italian politician. Biography In the early 1970s Realacci participated in the Christian Animation Movement (MAC). After finishing his studies at the classical high sc ...

, Linda Lanzillotta,

Gianni Vernetti Gianni Vernetti (born 27 November 1960) is a writer and Italian politician. Early life Gianni Vernetti was born in Torino, Italy. In 1985 he graduated in Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Turin. In 1987 he was awarded a PhD in Urban ...

and Roberto Giachetti. During Veltroni's leadership, some of these people, including Gentiloni (now one of the leaders of Liberal PD) and Realacci, distanced from Rutelli, who took a more conservative approach, and became '' Veltroniani''. However, in June 2009 all ''Rutelliani'', including Gentiloni and Realacci, rallied again around Rutelli and joined his new association, the Free Democrats and chose to support the candidacy of

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 T ...

in the 2009 Democratic Party leadership election. In the aftermath of the election, which saw the victory of Pier Luigi Bersani, Rutelli and a large portion of the faction left the party in order to set up an independent party,

. Some ''Rutelliani'', including Gentiloni and Realacci, chose to remain in the PD and, since September 2010, were part of Veltroni's Democratic Movement.

References

{{Democratic Party factions Democratic Party (Italy) factions Liberalism in Italy