Unique Italy (''Italia Unica'', IU; ''unico/a'' translates both to "unique" and "united") was a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

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 ...

. Its leader was Corrado Passera, a former manager (

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 19 ...

Espresso Espresso (, ) is a concentrated form of coffee produced by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Originating in Italy, espresso has become one of the most popular coffee-brewing methods worldwide. It is cha ...

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned b ...

, Poste), banker ( Intesa/

Intesa Sanpaolo Intesa Sanpaolo Società per azioni, S.p.A. is an Italian international banking group. It is Italy's largest bank by total assets and the world's 27th largest. It was formed through the merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in 2007, but has a ...

), supporter of the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

Olive Tree The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

coalition and minister of Economic Development in

Monti Cabinet The Monti government was the sixty-first government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. This Government of Experts, Experts' cabinet was composed of independents, three of whom were women and was formed as an interim government. The ...

(2011–2013).

History

The party was launched during two conventions in February and June 2014, respectively. Passera aimed at forming a "liberal, popular and reform" alternative to

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 ...

's Democratic Party (PD) and re-unifying the centre-right, which was divided at the time between several contentious parties and leaders. At its founding congress in January 2015, the party unveiled its leadership. Led by Passera, president, and Lelio Alfonso (former spokesperson of Future Italy, IF and

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), national coordinator, the party's national board notably included Diego Bottacin (former regional councillor in

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

for Democracy is Freedom–DL, the PD and Toward North–VN), Fabio Evangelisti (a former MP for 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 ...

–DS and

Italy of Values Italy of Values (, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the party in 2014. IdV has ai ...

–IdV), Silvana Mura (former treasurer and MP of IdV),

Renzo Tondo Renzo Tondo (born 7 August 1956) is an Italian politician, former List of Presidents of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, President of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Early life He graduated in Political Sciences at the University of Trieste. He began his career a ...

(a former

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

who served as

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 ...

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and MP for

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 and

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) and

Santo Versace Santo Domenico Versace (; born 16 December 1944) is an Italian businessman and politician who is the president and co-chief executive officer of Gianni Versace SpA, based in Milan, Italy. Since 2008 he has been elected as Member of the Chambe ...

(another former Socialist who was MP for the PdL). Pino Bicchielli (former member of the national board of

Alliance for Italy Alliance for Italy (; ApI) was a centrist political party in Italy. The party, which was described in its manifesto as "democratic, liberal, popular" as opposed both to "right-wing populism" and the "social-democratic left", described as "an e ...

–ApI and former coordinator of Democratic Centre–CD) and Marco Calgaro (a former MP of DL and the Union of the Centre–UdC) joined IU by September. Among the others who joined later, it is worth mentioning Maria Ida Germontani (a former member of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

–LN and senator of National Alliance–AN). Since November 2015 IU was represented by Guglielmo Vaccaro, elected with the PD and formerly a close affiliate of

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 ...

, in 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 ...

and by

Gaetano Quagliariello Gaetano Quagliariello (born 23 April 1960) is an Italian politician, former Minister of Constitutional Reforms and current leader of Identity and Action party. Biography Quagliariello was born in Naples in 1960. During the University he was ...

, elected with the PdL, passed through 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) and now leader of

Identity and Action Identity and Action (, IDeA) is a conservative political party in Italy, whose membership stretches from Christian democracy to liberal conservatism. The party's leader is Gaetano Quagliariello, a former minister for Institutional Reforms. Hist ...

(IdeA), which allowed membership to other parties through the so-called "double membership", in 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 ...

. Vaccaro also hinted that IU and IdeA would soon merge into a single party. Passera was supposed to run for mayor in the 2016 municipal election 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 ...

, but eventually decided to endorse Stefano Parisi, the joint centre-right candidate supported by the LN, FI, the NCD and the UdC. Consequently, the IU candidates were included in the larger "Parisi List for a Unique Milano". In September 2016 the party, which had failed to take roots in the country, was dissolved.

Leadership

*President: Corrado Passera (2014–2016) *Coordinator: Lelio Alfonso (2014–2016)

References

External links

Official website
{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy 2014 establishments in Italy 2016 disestablishments in Italy Centrist parties in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 2014 Political parties disestablished in 2016