The National Association Club of Freedom (''Associazione Nazionale Circolo della Libertà''), more frequently referred to as Clubs of Freedom (''Circoli della Libertà''), was a grassroots organisation within

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...

, 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 ...

. It was formed on 20 November 2006 and, since then, its leader has been

Michela Vittoria Brambilla Michela Vittoria Brambilla (born 26 October 1967) is an Italian politician, animal rights activist and businesswoman. On 12 May 2008 she was nominated undersecretary (Tourism) in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet; on 8 May 2009 she was appointed Ministe ...

, a former president of the youth section of '. The group started as an organisation very close to

Forza Italia (FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...

, although there was no official affiliation, many members were active in other centre-right parties or not members of any party.

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

himself, leader of Forza Italia, proposed the foundation of the Clubs of Freedom during the annual meeting of

Communion and Liberation Communion and Liberation (, often shortened to CL), since 1980 officially Fraternity of Communion and Liberation (), it is an international Catholic movement founded in 1954 by Fr. Luigi Giussani as Student Youth (), with the aim of presentin ...

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

in August 2006. The goal of the Clubs was to build a political-cultural group of citizens who want to take part to the national political life by starting from local issues, such as city administration, and to build a united centre-right party in Italy. That goal was eventually reached with the foundation of The People of Freedom (PdL) between November 2007 and March 2009 and the Clubs of Freedom were among the official founding members of the new party. Within the PdL, the Clubs are still active, but they became part of the larger Promoters of Freedom organization.

References

External links

* {{People of Freedom factions Organisations associated with The People of Freedom