Italian Liberal Party
Encyclopedia
The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 political party in Italy.

Origins

The origins of liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

 following the 1848 revolution
Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states
The 1848 revolutions in the Italian states were organized revolts in the states of Italy led by intellectuals and agitators who desired a liberal government. As Italian nationalists they sought to eliminate reactionary Austrian control...

. The Liberals were moderately conservative and supported centralised government, restricted suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...

, regressive tax
Regressive tax
A regressive tax is a tax imposed in such a manner that the tax rate decreases as the amount subject to taxation increases. "Regressive" describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the way the rate progresses from high to low, where the average tax rate exceeds the...

ation, and free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

. They dominated Italian politics following unification
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...

 in 1861 but never formed a party, basing their power on census suffrage and the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

 electoral system.

The Right was opposed by a more progressive faction, the "Historical Left", which overthrew Marco Minghetti
Marco Minghetti
Marco Minghetti was an Italian economist and statesman.-Biography:Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States....

's government during the so-called "Parliamentary Revolution" of 1876, which allowed the premiership of Agostino Depretis
Agostino Depretis
Agostino Depretis was an Italian statesman.-Biography:Depretis was born at Mezzana Corte, near Stradella, in the province of Pavia ....

. However, Depretis immediately began to search the support of the Right MPs, which easily accepted to change their positions, in a situation of large corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

. This phenomenon (on a satirical newspaper, the Premier was depicted as a chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...

), called in Italian as trasformismo
Trasformismo
Trasformismo was the method of making a flexible, centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the left and the right in Italian politics after the unification but before the rise of Benito Mussolini and Fascism. One of the more successful politicians was Giovanni Giolitti who...

(roughly translated in English as "transformism"), cancelled the political differences in the Parliament, which was dominated by an undistinguished liberal bloc with a landslide majority until after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

During the 1900s and 1910s
1910s
File:1910s montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Model T Ford is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; Title bar: All the events below are part of World War I ; French Army lookout...

, two parliamentary factions alternated in government, one led by Sidney Sonnino
Sidney Sonnino
Baron Sidney Costantino Sonnino was an Italian politician.Sonnino was born in Pisa to an Italian father of Jewish heritage and a Welsh mother...

, and the other one, by far the larger of the two, led by Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman. He was the 19th, 25th, 29th, 32nd and 37th Prime Minister of Italy between 1892 and 1921. A left-wing liberal, Giolitti's periods in office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressive social reforms which improved the living standards of...

. At that time the Liberals governed in alliance with the Radicals
Radical Party (Italy, 1877)
The Radical Party was a radical political party in Italy.It was founded in 1877 by Agostino Bertani and Felice Cavallotti as a radical-liberal party of what was then considered the "far left", from the name of the parliamentary group the Radicals formed with Andrea Costa, the first Socialist...

, the Democrats
Constitutional Democratic Party (Italy)
The Constitutional Democratic Party was a social-liberal political party in Italy.It emerged in 1913 from the left-wing of the dominant Liberals, of which it continued to be a government coalition partner...

 and eventually with the Reform Socialists
Italian Reform Socialist Party
The Italian Reform Socialist Party was a social-democratic political party in Italy.It was formed in 1912 by those leading reformists who had been expelled from the Italian Socialist Party because of their desire of entering in the majority supporting Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti...

.

The brief party

At the end of the war universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

 and proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 were introduced in Italy. This reforms caused big problems to the Liberals, which found themselves unable to stop the rise of the two big, structured, and democratic parties, the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 and the Italian People's Party, which had taken the control of many local authorities in Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...

 even before the war. But the Italian particularity was the fact that even if the Catholic party was in opposition to the Socialists in accordance with European standards, it was also in contrast with the Liberals and, generally, the Right, under the consequences of the long echo of the capture of Rome
Capture of Rome
The Capture of Rome was the final event of the long process of Italian unification known as the Risorgimento, which finally unified the Italian peninsula under King Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy...

 and the struggles between the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 and the Italian state which the Liberals had ruled for more than fifty years.

The Parliament was so divided in three different blocks with a huge instability, while the Socialists by one part, and the rising Fascists
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...

 by the other one, became protagonists of political violences. In this chaotic situation, the Liberals founded their Italian Liberal Party in 1922, which immediately was taken into the Fascist net. The party presented itself into the list of the National Fascist Party
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party was an Italian political party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism...

 during the 1924 general election
Italian general election, 1924
The Italian general election of 1924 took place on 6 April 1924, under the Acerbo Law. The National Fascist Party used intimidation tactics that produced a landslide victory for Benito Mussolini's "National List" and a subsequent two-thirds majority The Italian general election of 1924 took place...

, giving to Fascists the support to turn a small political force into an absolute-majority party. The party was finally banned under Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

 in 1925, while many ancient liberal politicians were given rich, but uninfluent, political posts, as seats in the Italian Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...

.

Post World War II

The party was re-founded in 1943 by Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce was an Italian idealist philosopher, and occasionally also politician. He wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, methodology of history writing and aesthetics, and was a prominent liberal, although he opposed laissez-faire free trade...

, a prominent intellectual and senator whose international recognition allowed him to remain a free man during the Fascist regime
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...

, despite being an anti-fascist himself. Various groups had claimed the label "Liberal" before, but had never organised themselves as a party. After the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Liberal Enrico De Nicola
Enrico De Nicola
Enrico Roberto De Nicola was an Italian jurist, journalist, politician, and the first provisional Head of State of the newborn republic of Italy from 1946 to 1948.-Biography:...

 became "Provisional Head of State" (later President of the Republic from January 1, 1948) and another one, Luigi Einaudi
Luigi Einaudi
Luigi Einaudi , Cavaliere di Gran Croce decorato di Gran Cordone OMRI was an Italian politician and economist. He served as the second President of the Italian Republic between 1948 and 1955.-Early life:...

 (who, as Minister of Economy and Governor of the Bank of Italy
Banca d'Italia
Banca d'Italia is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, Roma, via Nazionale...

 between 1945 and 1948, had reshaped Italian economy), second President of Italy
President of the Italian Republic
The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....

.

In the 1946 general election
Italian general election, 1946
The Italian general election of 2 June 1946 was the first Italian election after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly...

 the party, which was part of the National Democratic Union
National Democratic Union (Italy)
The National Democratic Union was a coalition of parties for the 1946 general election, formed basically by the Italian Liberal Party, the Labour Democratic Party and some other liberal, conservative and monarchist parties...

, won 6.8% of the vote, which was somewhat below expectations. Indeed PLI was supported by all the survivors of the Italian political class before the rise of Fascism, from Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando was an Italian diplomat and political figure. He was born in Palermo, Sicily. His father, a landed gentleman, delayed venturing out to register his son's birth for fear of Giuseppe Garibaldi's 1,000 patriots who had just stormed into Sicily on the first leg of their march...

 to Francesco Saverio Nitti
Francesco Saverio Nitti
Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paola Nitti was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as the 36th Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920....

. In the first years, the party was led by Leone Cattani, member of the internal left, and then by Roberto Lucifero, a monarchist
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...

-conservative. This fact caused the exit of the group of Cattani, so that Bruno Villabruna
Bruno Villabruna
Bruno Villabruna was an Italian lawyer and liberal politician.Born in Santa Giustina, near Belluno in the Veneto, he was first elected to parliament in 1921...

, a moderate, was elected secretary in 1948 in order to re-unite all the Liberals under a single banner.

Giovanni Malagodi

Under Giovanni Malagodi, the party moved further to the right on economic issues. In particular, the PLI opposed the new centre-left coalition that included also the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 and presented itself as the main conservative party in Italy. This caused in 1956 the exit of the party's left-wing, including Bruno Villabruna
Bruno Villabruna
Bruno Villabruna was an Italian lawyer and liberal politician.Born in Santa Giustina, near Belluno in the Veneto, he was first elected to parliament in 1921...

, Eugenio Scalfari
Eugenio Scalfari
Eugenio Scalfari is an Italian journalist, editor of the news magazine L'espresso , former member of parliament in the Italian Chamber of Deputies , co-founder of the newspaper La Repubblica and its editor from 1976 to 1996.-Biography:A law graduate with a interest in journalism and politics,...

 and Marco Pannella
Marco Pannella
Giacinto Pannella, better known as Marco Pannella is an Italian politician.He is the historic leader of the Italian Radicals...

, who founded the Radical Party.

Malagodi managed to draw some votes from the Italian Social Movement
Italian Social Movement
The Italian Social Movement , and later the Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. Formed in 1946 by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the party became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s...

, the Monarchist National Party
Monarchist National Party
The Monarchist National Party was a political party in Italy founded in 1946, uniting conservatives, liberal conservatives, conservative liberals and nationalists...

 and especially Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

, whose party base was composed also by conservatives who were suspicious of the Socialists, increasing the party's share to a historical record of 7.0% in the 1963 general election
Italian general election, 1963
The Italian elections of 1963 were held on April 28. The fourth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.It was the first election with a fixed number of MPs to be elected, as decided by the second Constitutional Reform in February 1963...

. After his resignation from party leadership in 1972, the Liberals were defeated with a humiliating 1.3% in 1976
Italian general election, 1976
The Italian elections of 1976 were held on June 20. The seventh Parliament of republican Italy was selected. These were the first elections where 18-year-old boys and girls were allowed to vote....

 and tried to re-gain strength by supporting social reforms such as divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

.

The Pentapartito

After Valerio Zanone
Valerio Zanone
Valerio Zanone is an Italian politician, who was secretary and president of the Italian Liberal Party. He was also a senator of the Democratic Party.-Biography:Zanone was born in Turin....

 took over in 1976, the party moved to the centre. The new secretary opened to the Socialists
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

, hoping to put in action a sort of Lib-Lab
Lib-Lab pact
In British politics, a Lib-Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.There have been four such arrangements, and one alleged proposal, at the national level...

 cooperation, similar to that experimented in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 from 1977 to 1979 between Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 and the Liberals
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

.

In 1983 the PLI finally joined the pentapartito coalition composed also of the Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

 (DC), the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 (PSI), the Italian Democratic Socialist Party
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...

 (PSDI) and the Italian Republican Party
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...

 (PRI). The coalition was dubbed for a long time pentapartito. In the 1980s, the party was led by Renato Altissimo
Renato Altissimo
Renato Altissimo is an Italian former politician and minister.-Biography:He was born in Portogruaro, near Venice.Altissimo was a member of the Italian Liberal Party , a small party which served as a junior partner in several governing coalitions.A long time follower of party leader Valerio Zanone,...

 and Alfredo Biondi
Alfredo Biondi
Alfredo Biondi is an Italian politician and lawyer. In 1994 he served as Minister of Justice of the Italian Republic during the first cabinet chaired by Silvio Berlusconi.-Biography:...

.

With the uncovering of the corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 system nicknamed Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...

 by the Mani Pulite
Mani pulite
Mani pulite was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were...

 investigation, many government parties experienced a rapid loss of their support. In the first months the Liberal Party seemed immune to investigation. However, as the investigations further unraveled, the PLI turned out to be part of the corruption scheme. Francesco De Lorenzo, the Liberal Minister of Health
Italian Minister of Health
This is a list of Italian Ministers of Health...

, was one of the most loathed politicians in Italy for his corruption, that involved stealing funds from the sick, and allowing commercialisation of medicines based on bribes.

Dissolution and diaspora

The party was disbanded in February 1994 and there were at least six heirs:
  • the Union of the Centre (UdC), led by Alfredo Biondi
    Alfredo Biondi
    Alfredo Biondi is an Italian politician and lawyer. In 1994 he served as Minister of Justice of the Italian Republic during the first cabinet chaired by Silvio Berlusconi.-Biography:...

    , Raffaele Costa
    Raffaele Costa
    Raffaele Costa is an Italian politician. He has been President of the Province of Cuneo...

     and Enrico Nan, was an associate party of Forza Italia
    Forza Italia
    Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

     and was merged into it in 1998;
  • the Liberal Party
    Liberal Party (Italy)
    The Liberal Party was a minor liberal political party in Italy.It was founded in 1994 by former members of the Italian Liberal Party who wanted to join the centre-right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi. Most of its leading figures were also members of Forza Italia: Stefano De Luca, Carlo...

     (PL), led by Stefano De Luca, Ernesto Caccavale and Luigi Calligaris, was too associated to Forza Italia, before distancing from it;
  • a group, that included Antonio Martino
    Antonio Martino
    Antonio Martino is an Italian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Italian Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia, holding party card no. 2.-Career:...

    , Giuliano Urbani, Giancarlo Galan
    Giancarlo Galan
    Giancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...

     and Paolo Romani, joined directly to Forza Italia;
  • the Italian Liberal Right
    Italian Liberal Right
    The Italian Liberal Right , previously known as Liberals for Italy was a tiny conservative-liberal Italian political party.-History:...

     (DLI), led by Gabriele Pagliuzzi and Giuseppe Basini, joined the National Alliance
    National Alliance (Italy)
    National Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...

    ;
  • the Federation of Italian Liberals
    Federation of Italian Liberals
    The Federation of Italian Liberals is a tiny liberal party in Italy, founded in 1994 by Raffaello Morelli and Valerio Zanone...

     (FdL), led by Raffaello Morelli and Valerio Zanone
    Valerio Zanone
    Valerio Zanone is an Italian politician, who was secretary and president of the Italian Liberal Party. He was also a senator of the Democratic Party.-Biography:Zanone was born in Turin....

    , first joined the Patto Segni
    Patto Segni
    Patto Segni was a Christian-democratic and liberal political party in Italy, named after Mario Segni.-History:The party was founded in 1993 as a split from Democratic Alliance and as the continuation of the Populars for the Reform, a split from Christian Democracy in 1992, whose principal aim was...

    , then The Olive Tree;
  • the Liberal Left
    Liberal Left
    The Liberal Left was a minor liberal faction within the Democrats of the Left, an Italian political party.It was formed basically by former left-wingers of the Italian Liberal Party...

     (SL) of Gianfranco Passalacqua, represented the left-wingers of the party and was finally merged in the Democrats of the Left
    Democrats of the Left
    The Democrats of the Left was a social-democratic Italian political party and part of the Olive Tree electoral coalition, which merged with a number of centrist and leftist groups to form the Democratic Party on 14 October 2007...

     in 2006.


After some years from the party dissolution, most members have migrated to Forza Italia or other parties of the centre-right, while some other joined the centre-left, and especially Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy.

Re-foundation

In 2004 the party was re-founded by Stefano De Luca, then leader of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Italy)
The Liberal Party was a minor liberal political party in Italy.It was founded in 1994 by former members of the Italian Liberal Party who wanted to join the centre-right coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi. Most of its leading figures were also members of Forza Italia: Stefano De Luca, Carlo...

, Renato Altissimo
Renato Altissimo
Renato Altissimo is an Italian former politician and minister.-Biography:He was born in Portogruaro, near Venice.Altissimo was a member of the Italian Liberal Party , a small party which served as a junior partner in several governing coalitions.A long time follower of party leader Valerio Zanone,...

, Carla Martino (sister of Antonio
Antonio Martino
Antonio Martino is an Italian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Italian Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia, holding party card no. 2.-Career:...

), Giuseppe Basini, Attilio Bastianini, Savino Melillo, Salvatore Grillo, Arturo Diaconale and Gian Nicola Amoretti. This new party gathers some of the Italian right-wing liberals, but soon distanced itself from the centre-right coalition dominated by Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

, where most Italian Liberals ended up, in order to follow an autonomous path.

As of 2011, the modern-day PLI is affiliated to the New Pole for Italy
New Pole for Italy
The New Pole for Italy , referred also either as the Third Pole or Pole of the Nation , is a centre-right coalition of parties in Italy....

 coalition.

Popular support

Before the World Wars the Liberals were the political establishment that governed Italy for decades. Their political base of support was in Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

, where many leading liberal politicians of the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

 and the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

 (including both Camillo Cavour and Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman. He was the 19th, 25th, 29th, 32nd and 37th Prime Minister of Italy between 1892 and 1921. A left-wing liberal, Giolitti's periods in office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressive social reforms which improved the living standards of...

) hailed from, and Southern Italy. The Liberals never gained large support after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as they were not able to become a mass party and were replaced by Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

 as the dominant political force of the country. In the 1946 general election
Italian general election, 1946
The Italian general election of 2 June 1946 was the first Italian election after World War II and elected 556 deputies to a Constituent Assembly...

, the first after the war, the Liberal Party gained 6.8% as part of the National Democratic Union
National Democratic Union (Italy)
The National Democratic Union was a coalition of parties for the 1946 general election, formed basically by the Italian Liberal Party, the Labour Democratic Party and some other liberal, conservative and monarchist parties...

. At that time they were strong especially in the South, as Christian Democracy was mainly rooted in the North
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...

: 21.0% in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

, 22.8% in Basilicata
Basilicata
Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...

, 10.4% in Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

, 12.8% in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

 and 13.6% in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

.

The party's main constituency were the industrial elites of the North-West, the so-called "industrial triangle" formed by Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 and Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

. The Liberals had their best results in the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

, when they were rewarded by liberal-conservative voters for their opposition to the participation of the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 to the government. The party won 7.0% of the vote in 1963
Italian general election, 1963
The Italian elections of 1963 were held on April 28. The fourth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.It was the first election with a fixed number of MPs to be elected, as decided by the second Constitutional Reform in February 1963...

 (15.2% in Turin, 18.7% in Milan and 11.5% in Genoa) and 5.8% 1963
Italian general election, 1963
The Italian elections of 1963 were held on April 28. The fourth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.It was the first election with a fixed number of MPs to be elected, as decided by the second Constitutional Reform in February 1963...

. Liberals suffered a decline in the 1970s and settled around 2–3% in the 1980s, when their strongholds were reduced to Piedmont, and especially the provinces of Torino and Cuneo
Province of Cuneo
ayr is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ....

, and, to a minor extent, Western Lombardy, Liguria and Sicily.

As the other parties of the Pentapartito coalition (Christian Democrats, Socialists
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

, Republicans
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...

 and Social Democrats
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...

), Liberals strengthened their grip on the South, while in the North they all would have lost many votes to Lega Nord and its regional precursors. In the 1992 general election
Italian general election, 1992
The Italian general elections of 1992 were held on the 5 April 1992.The 1992 elections were the first without the traditionally second most important political force in Italy, the Italian Communist Party , which had been disbanded in 1991...

, the last before the Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...

scandals, the PLI won 2.9% of the vote, a decent result thanks to the increase of votes from the South, which can be considered the Indian summer of the party before the 1992–1994 storm.

After the end of the "First Republic" former Liberals were very influent within Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

 (FI) in Piedmont, Liguria and, strangely enough, in Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

, where Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...

 was three times elected President. Former Liberals are still dominant within the ranks of The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....

 (the successor of FI) in the province of Cuneo and in Liguria.

Leadership

  • Secretary: Alberto Giovannini (1922–1924), Quintino Piras (1924–1926), Giovanni Cassandro (1944), Manlio Brosio
    Manlio Brosio
    Manlio Giovanni Brosio was an Italian lawyer, diplomat, politician and the fourth Secretary General of NATO between 1964 and 1971.-Biography:...

     (1944–1945), Leone Cattani (1945–1946), Giovanni Cassandro (1946–1947), Roberto Lucifero (1947–1948), Bruno Villabruna
    Bruno Villabruna
    Bruno Villabruna was an Italian lawyer and liberal politician.Born in Santa Giustina, near Belluno in the Veneto, he was first elected to parliament in 1921...

     (1948–1954), Alessandro Leone di Tavagnasco (1954), Giovanni Malagodi (1954–1972), Agostino Bignardi (1972–1976), Valerio Zanone
    Valerio Zanone
    Valerio Zanone is an Italian politician, who was secretary and president of the Italian Liberal Party. He was also a senator of the Democratic Party.-Biography:Zanone was born in Turin....

     (1976–1985), Alfredo Biondi
    Alfredo Biondi
    Alfredo Biondi is an Italian politician and lawyer. In 1994 he served as Minister of Justice of the Italian Republic during the first cabinet chaired by Silvio Berlusconi.-Biography:...

     (1985–1986), Renato Altissimo
    Renato Altissimo
    Renato Altissimo is an Italian former politician and minister.-Biography:He was born in Portogruaro, near Venice.Altissimo was a member of the Italian Liberal Party , a small party which served as a junior partner in several governing coalitions.A long time follower of party leader Valerio Zanone,...

     (1986–1993), Raffaele Costa
    Raffaele Costa
    Raffaele Costa is an Italian politician. He has been President of the Province of Cuneo...

     (1993–1994)
  • President: Benedetto Croce
    Benedetto Croce
    Benedetto Croce was an Italian idealist philosopher, and occasionally also politician. He wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, methodology of history writing and aesthetics, and was a prominent liberal, although he opposed laissez-faire free trade...

     (1944–1954), Raffaele De Caro (1954–1962), Gaetano Martino
    Gaetano Martino
    Gaetano Martino was an Italian politician and university teacher.A native of Messina, Sicily, he was a member of Italian Liberal Party. Gaetano Martino was one of the participants of the Messina Conference in 1955, which would lead to the Treaty of Rome in 1957...

     (1962–1972), Giovanni Malagodi (1972–1985), Valerio Zanone
    Valerio Zanone
    Valerio Zanone is an Italian politician, who was secretary and president of the Italian Liberal Party. He was also a senator of the Democratic Party.-Biography:Zanone was born in Turin....

     (1985–1986), Alfredo Biondi
    Alfredo Biondi
    Alfredo Biondi is an Italian politician and lawyer. In 1994 he served as Minister of Justice of the Italian Republic during the first cabinet chaired by Silvio Berlusconi.-Biography:...

     (1986–1994)

  • Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies
    Italian Chamber of Deputies
    The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...

    : Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
    Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
    Vittorio Emanuele Orlando was an Italian diplomat and political figure. He was born in Palermo, Sicily. His father, a landed gentleman, delayed venturing out to register his son's birth for fear of Giuseppe Garibaldi's 1,000 patriots who had just stormed into Sicily on the first leg of their march...

     (1946), Luigi Einaudi
    Luigi Einaudi
    Luigi Einaudi , Cavaliere di Gran Croce decorato di Gran Cordone OMRI was an Italian politician and economist. He served as the second President of the Italian Republic between 1948 and 1955.-Early life:...

     (1946), Francesco Saverio Nitti
    Francesco Saverio Nitti
    Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paola Nitti was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as the 36th Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920....

     (1946–1947), Epicarmo Corbino (1947–1948), Raffaele De Caro (1948–1961), Giovanni Malagodi (1961–1971), Aldo Bozzi (1971–1987), Paolo Battistuzzi (1987–1993), Savino Melillo (1993–1994)
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