Veltroniani referred to the followers of

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 ...

, leader of 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 ...

, 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 ...

, from 2007 to 2009. Most of them are social democrats coming from 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 ...

. Apart the core group of ''Veltroniani'', there are some distinct factions within the Democratic Party whose members are usually considered ''veltroniani'': * Liberal PD * Democratic Ecologists *

Social Christians The Social Christians ( it, Cristiano Sociali) are a Christian social-democratic faction within the Democratic Party, a political party in Italy. Before that, they were a party (1993–1998) and a faction of the Democrats of the Left (1998–2 ...

During Veltroni's leadership, leading members of the area were Goffredo Bettini,

Giorgio Tonini Giorgio Tonini (born 5 January 1959) is an Italian journalist and politician. He served in the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2018. References External links Official website Senators of Legislature XIV of Italy Senators of Legislatur ...

and

Enrico Morando Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from ''Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Henri (French), En ...

. Then there was a group of former '' Rutelliani'', including notably

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 ...

and

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 ...

, who became very close to Veltroni and to his idea of Democratic Party. In strict terms ''Veltroniani'' are generally progressives and modernizers, as opposed to '' Dalemiani'' who are more traditional social democrats. 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 T ...

and those who soon started to criticize him. The first group includes mainly centrist figures, notably Tonini and Realacci, while the latter, 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) ...

, led by Bettini and Michele Meta, launched a new faction, the Democrats in Network. In the 2009 Democratic Party leadership election the bulk of ''Veltroniani'' and Veltroni himself supported Franceschini, while the Democrats in Netweork of Bettini and Meta 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 ...

. Pier Luigi Bersani was elected secretary and most ''Veltroniani'' joined

AreaDem AreaDem (an abbreviation for ''Area Democratica'', en, Democratic Area) is a broad faction within the Democratic Party (PD), a political party in Italy. The faction coordinator is Marina Sereni, a former member of the Democrats of the Left close t ...

, the united minority faction led by Franceschini. However, when Franceschini re-approached with Bersani, Veltroni formed a "movement" to defend the "original spirit" of the PD. In doing this he was supported by 75 deputies: 33 ''Veltroniani'', 35 Populars close to Giuseppe Fioroni and 7 former '' Rutelliani'' led by

. The new faction was named Democratic Movement.Pagina non trovata – l'Unità
. Unita.it (20 September 2008). Retrieved on 18 October 2011.

References

External links

Democrats in Network
{{Democratic Party factions Democratic Party (Italy) factions