Scajoliani refers to the faction around

Claudio Scajola Claudio Scajola (; born 15 January 1948 in Imperia (city), Imperia) is an Italian politician, current Mayor of Imperia (city), Imperia. Career A long-time Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democrat, he was Mayor of Imperia (city), Imperia ...

, a leading member of

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), 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 ...

. The group wielded particular influence within Forza Italia (FI), the main precursor of PdL. Scajola and his allies proposed a stronger party organization, differently from another major group, the ''

Dellutriani Dellutriani refers to the faction around Marcello Dell'Utri, a leading member of Forza Italia and, later, of The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy. Generally speaking, they had been proponents of a stronger party organization in oppositi ...

'', named after senator

Marcello Dell'Utri Marcello Dell'Utri (born 11 September 1941) is a former Italian politician and senior advisor to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Formerly Senator in the Italian Senate.

. After the defeat in the 1996 general election,

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

appointed Scajola national coordinator of the party. During the subsequent five years in charge of party organization (1996–2001), Scajola built FI as a modern mass party and prepared it for the huge electoral victories of 1999–2001 (

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

, regional elections and

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

). After having left active politics for a while in 2010, Scajola soon started to re-organize his faction, whose leading members included Massimo Berruti, Paolo Russo, Maria Teresa Armosino, Ignazio Abrignani,

Michele Scandroglio Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically ...

, Salvatore Cicu,

Sandro Biasotti Sandro Biasotti (born 2 July 1948) is an Italian entrepreneur and politician, former President of Liguria from 2000 to 2005. Biography Biasotti is the son of an entrepreneur active in the field of freight transport and built an entrepreneurial ...

Roberto Cassinelli Roberto Cassinelli (born 10 December 1956) is an Italian politician and lawyer, Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Studies and professional life Cassinelli was born in Genoa, and attended the catholic college Vittorino da Feltre in the ...

Raffaele Lauro Raffaele Lauro (born 10 February 1944, in Sorrento) is an Italian politician, member of the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate of Italy, prefect and a private adviser for institutional relations and communication. Early life and education Ra ...

, Paolo Tancredi and

Giustina Destro Giustina Mistrello Destro (Padua, 9 June 1945) is an Italian politician and entrepreneur. An entrepreneur by profession, Destro joined politics relatively late in her life. In 1999 she formed a list for Padua municipal election and ran as an ind ...

. Most of them were former

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

, while others shared with Scajola the regional upbringing, hailing from

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

, Scajola's power base, or neighbouring

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. In November 2010 the

Christopher Columbus Foundation The Christopher Columbus Foundation, whose complete name is Christopher Columbus Foundation for Freedoms (''Fondazione Cristoforo Colombo per le Libertà'', FCL) was an organization and think tank connected to The People of Freedom (PdL), a politi ...

(FCL) was formed by Scajola in order to help the PdL discover again the original spirit of FI. The association was joined by ''Scajoliani'' and also by

Antonio Martino Antonio Martino (22 December 1942 – 5 March 2022) was an Italian politician, who was the minister of foreign affairs in 1994 and minister of defense from 2001 to 2006. He was a founding member of Forza Italia. Life and career Born in Mess ...

, a former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

who was number two of FI in 1994 and minister of Foreign Affairs in Berlusconi's first government, as well as other liberals, such as

Gregorio Fontana Gregorio Fontana, born Giovanni Battista Lorenzo Fontana (7 December 1735 – 24 August 1803) was an Italian mathematician and a religious of the Piarist order. He was chair of mathematics at the university of Pavia succeeding Roger Joseph Boscov ...

, and leading Christian democrats of the party, including

Mario Baccini Mario Baccini (born 14 December 1957 in Rome) is an Italian politician, former member of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats and promoter of the White Rose. Biography He started his political activity as town councilor in Rome, for th ...

and Osvaldo Napoli.

References

External links

Christopher Columbus Foundation
{{People of Freedom factions The People of Freedom factions Forza Italia factions