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 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 ...

(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 ...

. Its leader is Christian democrat

Claudio Scajola Claudio Scajola (; born 15 January 1948 in Imperia) is an Italian politician, current Mayor of Imperia. Career A long-time Christian Democrat, he was Mayor of Imperia during a short period in the 1980s and from 1990 to 1995, as his father and h ...

Background

The group around

wielded a strong influence within

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

, the main precursor of the PdL. During his five years as national coordinator of the party (1996–2001), Scajola built Forza Italia as a modern mass party and prepared it for several electoral victories. Scajola was minister in all governments of

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 ...

(2001–2006, 2008–present) until his resignation as minister of Economic Development in early 2010 over a scandal.

History

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 Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, 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 Salvatore may refer to: * Salvatore (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name * "Salvatore" (song), by Lana Del Rey, 2015 * Salvatore (band), a Norwegian instrumental rock band * '' Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams' ...

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,

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

, 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 te ...

, 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 (FCL) was formed by Scajola in order to re-discover the original spirit of Forza Italia. 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 Messina ...

, 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 Forza Italia 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 t ...

and

Osvaldo Napoli Osvaldo may refer to the following people: Given name *Osvaldo Alonso, Cuban football player *Osvaldo Ardiles (born 1952), an Argentine football player and coach *Osvaldo Bagnoli, an Italian football coach *Osvaldo Brandão, a Brazilian football c ...

. In early 2011 Scajola, who had been cleared of any wrongdoing, started to prepare a strong comeback. At the beginning of March he declared that he had 62 MPs behind him and asked Berlusconi either a major role in the party organization or a return in government. Soon after Scajola criticized how the fusion between Forza Italia and National Alliance (AN) had been done, demanded a bigger role for those coming from Forza Italia and threatened to form separate parliamentary groups from the PdL. The threat was renewed in October 2011, when Scajola and his followers asked for a new government, still led by Berlusconi, but with the Union of the Centre in it. A vote of confidence on Berlusconi's government was set on 14 October 2011, and Scajola announced that his group would vote for the government. However, he was not able two prevent two

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

deputies, Giustina Destro and

Fabio Gava Fabio Gava (born 26 October 1949 in Godega di Sant'Urbano) is an Italian politician from Veneto. A member of the Italian Liberal Party (PLI) since 1967, he joined Forza Italia (FI) in 1993 following his long-time friend Giancarlo Galan. Elected ...

from voting against the government, which survived the vote anyway. On 2 November Destro and Gava, along with Roberto Antonione, Giorgio Stracquadanio, Isabella Bertolini and

Giancarlo Pittelli Giancarlo is an Italian given name meaning "John Charles". It is one of the most common masculine given names in Italy and is often short for "Giovanni Carlo". Notable people with the name include: List A *Giancarlo Agazzi (1933–1995), Italia ...

, promoted an open letter in which they asked Berlusconi to step down and called for a new executive. Four "moderate" ''Scajoliani'' (Paolo Russo,

Pietro Testoni Pietro is an Italian language, Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his dea ...

Andrea Orsini Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ...

and Guglielmo Picchi) were present at the meeting, but did not sign the letter. Contextually, Antonione announced that he was leaving the party.
/ref>

Leadership

*President:

(2010–present) **Secretary-General: Paolo Russo (2010–present) **Deputy Secretary-General: Massimo Berruti (2010–present) **Treasurer:

(2010–present) *Honorary President:

(2010–present) *President of the Political Committee:

(2010–present) *President of the Scientific Committee:

(2010–present)

References

External links

Christopher Columbus Foundation
{{People of Freedom factions Organisations associated with The People of Freedom