The Letta government was the 62nd government of the

Italian Republic Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In office from 28 April 2013 to 22 January 2014, it comprised ministers of the Democratic Party (PD),

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 ...

(PdL),

Civic Choice Civic Choice (; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his political agenda. In t ...

(SC), the Union of the Centre (UdC), one of the

Italian Radicals The Italian Radicals (, RI) are a liberal and libertarian political party in Italy. The party draws inspiration form 19th-century classical radicalism and the Radical Party. The RI are a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Eur ...

(RI) and three non-party independents. The government was referred to by journalists as a Grand coalition () or Government of broad agreements (). At formation, the government benefited from a

supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...

in the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

, one of the largest in the

history of the Italian Republic The history of the Italian Republic concerns the events relating to the history of Italy that have occurred since 1946, when Italy became a republic after the 1946 Italian institutional referendum. The Italian republican history is generally div ...

. It was the youngest government to date, with a median age of 53. It was sworn in on 28 April 2013 and won the confidence vote in both the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

on 29 April and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on 30 April.

Formation and end

The 2013 general election, held on 24–25 February, saw the rise of the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( , M5S) is a political party in Italy, led by Giuseppe Conte. It was launched on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily d ...

(M5S) and the lack of a common majority in both houses of Parliament. More specifically, the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1995, when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left coalition has ruled the c ...

( Italy. Common Good) was ahead of the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...

, but controlled a majority only in the Chamber of Deputies. The election was followed by weeks of deadlock, including various failed attempts either to elect a

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

to succeed

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; 29 June 1925 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian politician who served as President of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. In office for 8 years and 244 days, he was the longest-serving pre ...

and form a government, the establishment of a panel of experts by the President himself (the so-called "wise men") in order to outline priorities and formulate an agenda to deal with the persistent economic hardship and growing unemployment, and, ultimately, the resignation of

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 ...

from secretary of the Democratic Party (PD). On 22 April 2013 Napolitano, after being re-elected for an unprecedented second term, immediately started consultations. Two days later, the President gave

Enrico Letta Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (), is the head of government of the Italy, Italian Republ ...

, deputy-secretary of the PD, the task of forming a government, having determined that Bersani could not. Letta succeeded

Mario Monti Mario Monti (; born 19 March 1943) is an Italian politician, economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a Technocratic government (Italy), technocratic government in the wake of the European sov ...

, who had resigned on 21 December 2012, but whose

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

remained in charge for ordinary administration until 28 April 2013, the day the new government was sworn in. During the ceremony, a man fired shots outside

Palazzo Chigi The Chigi Palace ( ) is a palace and former noble residence in Rome which is the seat of the Council of Ministers and the official residence of the Prime Minister of Italy. It is located in the Piazza Colonna, next to Palazzo Montecitorio, s ...

and wounded two

Carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...

. The cabinet was composed mainly by four parties: the PD,

(PdL),

(SC) and the Union of the Centre (UdC). The fact that the new Prime Minister was a nephew of

Gianni Letta Giovanni "Gianni" Letta (born 15 April 1935) is an Italian journalist and politician. He was a close advisor of Silvio Berlusconi and is a member of the advisory board of Goldman Sachs International. Biography After graduating in law, he star ...

, one of the most trusted advisors to

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 ...

, the leader of the PdL, was perceived as a way of overcoming the bitter hostility between the two opposing camps. However, on 28 September, Berlusconi asked his party's five ministers to resign from the government over a tax hike. On 15 November 2013, Berlusconi, who would be soon stripped of his seat in the Senate with PD's votes due to his conviction for tax fraud, announced the re-foundation of

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 ...

(FI), in opposition to the government, and the PdL split. In fact, all five PdL ministers, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior

Angelino Alfano Angelino Alfano (; born 31 October 1970) is an Italian former politician who served as Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. Alfano was Italian Minister of the Interior, Minister o ...

, joined the

New Centre-Right New Centre-Right (, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's reformation as Forza Italia (2013), Forza Italia (FI) ...

(NCD) party. The same week, also SC suffered a split, with its minister

Mario Mauro Mario Mauro (born 24 July 1961) is an Italian politician and a university teacher of history. He is the former Minister of Defence, having served in the Letta Cabinet from 2013 to 2014. From 1999 to 2013, he was a member of the European Parliamen ...

leaving the party, founding the

Populars for Italy Populars for Italy (, PpI) is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy led by Mario Mauro, minister of Defence in Letta Cabinet and, previously, long-serving MEP for Forza Italia. History The party was launched in November 2013 by splin ...

(PpI) and, nevertheless, keeping his post. The Letta government lasted until 22 February 2014 (for a total of 300 days). The government fell apart after the PD retired its support. Since December 2013 the party had been led by

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...

, the 39-year-old mayor of Florence nicknamed "the scrapper". Renzi succeeded Letta and formed the

Renzi government The Renzi government was the 63rd government of the Italy, Italian Republic, in office from February 2014 to December 2016. It was led by Matteo Renzi, secretary and leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (Italy), Democratic Party (PD). The ...

Investiture votes

Party breakdown

Beginning of term

Ministers

Ministers and other members

* Democratic Party (PD): Prime minister, 9 ministers, 5 deputy ministers, 12 undersecretaries *

(PdL): 5 ministers, 2 deputy ministers, 10 undersecretaries * Independents: 3 ministers, 2 deputy ministers, 5 undersecretaries *

(SC): 2 ministers, 1 deputy minister, 2 undersecretaries * Union of the Centre (UdC): 1 minister, 1 undersecretary *

(RI): 1 minister * Great South (GS): 1 undersecretary *

Moderates in Revolution Moderates in Revolution (, MIR) is a political association founded in 2012 by the lawyer, banker and entrepreneur Gianpiero Samorì. MIR is currently an associate party of Us with Italy, of whose executive committee Samorì is a member. In the ...

(MiR): 1 undersecretary

End of term

Ministers

Ministers and other members

* Democratic Party (PD): Prime minister, 8 ministers, 4 deputy ministers, 12 undersecretaries *

(NCD): 4 ministers, 1 deputy minister, 7 undersecretaries * Independents: 3 ministers, 2 deputy ministers, 5 undersecretaries *

(SC): 1 minister, 1 deputy minister, 1 undersecretary *

(PpI): 1 minister, 1 undersecretary * Union of the Centre (UdC): 1 minister, 1 undersecretary *

(RI): 1 minister

Council of Ministers

Composition

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabinet, Letta 2013 establishments in Italy 2014 disestablishments in Italy Cabinets established in 2013 Cabinets disestablished in 2014 Letta Grand coalition governments