Network Italy (''Rete Italia'') is a

Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

association connected to

Popular Alternative Popular Alternative (, AP) is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy that was founded on 18 March 2017 after the dissolution of New Centre-Right (NCD), one of the two parties that emerged at the break-up of The People of Freedom (PdL, t ...

(AP), 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 ...

, and earlier to

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 ...

. Most of its members, including its long-time leader

Roberto Formigoni Roberto Formigoni (born 30 March 1947) is an Italian politician. He was the president of Lombardy from 1995 to 2013. He is the former unofficial political spokesperson of the Communion and Liberation movement. On 21 February 2019, the Supreme Co ...

, are members of the Catholic lay movement

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 ...

(CL).

History

The political involvement of large chunks of CL dates back to the Seventies. In 1975 Formigoni organised the Popular Movement (MP) as a faction within

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

(DC). In January 1994, when the DC was dissolved, its members joined the Italian People's Party (PPI) and, a year later, they founded the

United Christian Democrats The United Christian Democrats (, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic political party in Italy. The CDU was a member of the European People's Party from 1995 until 2002. History The party was started in 1995 by splinters of the Italian People ...

(CDU), along with

Rocco Buttiglione Rocco Buttiglione (; born 6 June 1948) is an Italian Union of Christian and Centre Democrats politician and an academic. Buttiglione's nomination for a post as European Commissioner with a portfolio that was to include civil liberties, resulted ...

. Formigoni, who had been elected

President of Lombardy The president of Lombardy is the supreme authority of Lombardy, the most populated region of Italy. Election Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Lombardy, since 1995 '' de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by po ...

in April 1995 thanks to the support of

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 ...

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), was appointed president of the CDU at the party's founding congress in July. In 1998, when Buttiglione temporarily aligned his party with the centre-left in support of

D'Alema I Cabinet The first D'Alema government was the Politics of Italy, government of Italy from 21 October 1998 to 22 December 1999. The first Prodi government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support to Prodi. This led to the fo ...

(through the

Democratic Union for the Republic The Democratic Union for the Republic (, UDR) was a short-lived Christian-democratic and centrist political party in Italy. It was founded in February 1998 by Francesco Cossiga (former Prime Minister and President) in order to provide a majority ...

, UDR), Formigoni and his followers (known as ''Formigoniani'') formed the Christian Democrats for Freedom (CDL). When Buttiglione re-established the CDU and re-positioned it in the centre-right, joining the

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms (, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/ Pole of Good Government and the Pole for Freedoms. The former ...

coalition in 2000, Formigoni, his ''Formigoniani'' and many regional councillors from northern regions had already joined FI. In 2006 Network Italy was organized as an association within Forza Italia. Leading members of the faction, whose powerbase was in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, have included

Maurizio Lupi Maurizio Enzo Lupi (born 3 October 1959) is an Italian politician. He served as minister of infrastructure and transport between 28 April 2013 and 20 March 2015. Early life and education Lupi was born in Milan, Italy, on 3 October 1959. He has ...

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 ...

, Giancarlo Abelli, Adriano Paroli, Maurizio Bernardo, Mario Malossini, Raffaello Vignali,

Aldo Brandirali Aldo may refer to: * Aldo (given name), male given name ** Aldo (footballer, born 1957) ** Aldo (footballer, born 1977) ** Aldo (footballer, born 1988) * Aldo Group, a worldwide chain of shoe stores * Aldosterone in shorthand * Aldo Bonzi Aldo ...

and

Mario Sala Mario (; ) is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. ...

. In 2009 the association, along with Forza Italia, joined

(PdL) party. In November 2010, during a convention in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Formigoni formed an alliance with other two party bigwigs,

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (; born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician who has served as Vice-President of the European Commission, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Cohesion and Refo ...

and

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 ...

. The aim of the initiative was to reinforce the Catholic image of the party. The ties with

Franco Frattini Franco Frattini (14 March 1957 – 24 December 2022) was an Italian politician and magistrate. He served as the President of the Council of State (Italy), Council of State from January to December 2022. Frattini previously served as Italian Min ...

's '' Liberamente'' and

Gianni Alemanno Giovanni "Gianni" Alemanno (born 3 March 1958) is an Italian politician who from April 2008 until June 2013 was mayor of Rome for The People of Freedom. He was the secretary of the National Movement for Sovereignty from 2017 to 2019. Career At ...

's New Italy were reinforced too. In December 2012 Mauro, who had been the FI/PdL leader in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

since 1999, broke with the PdL and joined

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). In November 2013, upon the transformation of the PdL into a new

, the entire faction joined Alfano's

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). In March 2017 the NCD was dissolved into

(AP).

References

External links

Official website
{{New Centre-Right factions Organisations associated with The People of Freedom