Veltroniani referred to the followers of

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

, leader of the Democratic Party, a

political party in Italy This is a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy. Since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern alone; thus, partie ...

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

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left (, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. Positioned on the centre-left, the DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger ...

. 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 () 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 (1998–2007). The CS are a me ...

During Veltroni's leadership, leading members of the area were Goffredo Bettini, Giorgio Tonini and Enrico Morando. Then there was a group of former '' Rutelliani'', including notably

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy ...

and Ermete Realacci, 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 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 (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

, 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, ...

Pier Luigi Bersani Pier Luigi Bersani (; born 29 September 1951) is an Italian politician and was Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD), Italy's leading centre-left party, from 2009 to 2013. Bersani was Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftmanship from 1996 ...

was elected secretary and most ''Veltroniani'' joined

AreaDem AreaDem (an abbreviation for ''Area Democratica'', ) 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 to Piero Fassino. ...

, 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 Democratic Movement may refer to: *Brazilian Democratic Movement *Democratic Movement (France) *Democratic Movement (Israel) *Democratic Movement (Italy) *Democratic Italian Movement *Democratic Movement (San Marino) *Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzst ...

.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