Italy - Political Flags - Index and Overview

Last modified: 2016-04-22 by rob raeside
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• List of Political Parties, Movements and Organizations
• Politics and Flags
• Regional Parties
• Overview

Political Parties, Movements and Organizations

Listed below are the parties that active in all or most of Italy. Regional parties are listed on a separate page.

• Aosta Region - Political Flags
• Padania Flags
• Sardinia Region- Political Flags
• Tuscany Region - Political Flags
• Trade Unions Flags
• PACE Flag
• Neo-Nazi Flags

See also:

• Italy
• Flags in Politics

Politics and Flags

The new (1993) electoral law forced the creation of larger political coalitions.

It is worth noticing that the coalitions and some new parties have adopted symbols based on the Italian flag. The Left coalition (for the 1994 elections) symbol was a white circle with red-white-green strips and the word Progressisti (Progressives). In the Middle coalition symbol there are the red-white-green strips tied together. The bigger (and newer) party in the Right coalition is identified by a variation on the Italian flag: the white strip is oblique and narrow and they add the words Forza Italia (Cheer up Italy).

I think all the assemblages use the national colors because:

• The national flag is not related to any political trend, it's neutral enough to be used by all parties. The new assemblages do not want to be politically extreme, all of them want to persuade the common, politically-middle man.
• The national flag represents the unity of the nation. One of the new parties, Lega Nord, asserts the independence of the northern part called Padania . The assemblages assert instead the unity of the nation.

Some older parties also have used the national flag in their symbols. Curiously they are left- or right-oriented parties, not middle. In the PCI's (Italian Communist Party) symbol there was a national flag mostly hidden by a red sickle-and-hammer flag: I suppose it meant the communist ideology superimposed over the national identity. Today Rifondazione Comunista (neo-communist party) still has the red flag but the national one is represented as a half-circle in the bottom of the symbol, therefore the superimposition is not so evident. In the MSI's (neo-fascist party) symbol there was a green-white-red flame. PLI (Italian Liberal Party) directly used the national flag with the three letters P L I over the three strips. Both of them are conservative parties: they used national flag and colors to emphasize patriotism. In fact in Italian culture patriotism is considered a conservative idea.
Giuseppe Bottasini, 1995

Overview

The current system of political parties in Italy is complicated due to the great number of parties, their frequent fissions and fusions and name changes, and the electoral system urging the parties to form bigger coalitions and sub-coalitions for the elections. I will try to give an overview of the current (2001/2002) system of parties and coalitions.
There are basically five groups of parties in Italy:
1. The parties that came together to form the right-wing coalition Casa delle Libertà for the 2001 elections.
2. The parties that came together to form the left-wing coalition L'Ulivo for the 2001 elections.
3. The Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation).
4. Regionalist parties.
5. Other parties.

1. Casa delle Libertà (House of Liberties) coalition. This currently joins together five parties or sub-coalitions:
1.1. FI  Forza Italia  (Go, Italy)
1.2. AN  Alleanza Nazionale  (National Alliance)
1.3. Lega Nord  (Northern League)
1.4. UDC  Unione Democristiana e di Centro (Christian-Democratic Union and of Center) sub-coalition, a.k.a Biancofiore The UDC is a sub-coalition of the Casa delle Libertà joining together parties claiming heritage of the old DC Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democracy). The more left-wing fission products of the DC belong to L'Ulivo, sub-coalition Margherita (see below 2.2)
   1.4.1. CCD  Centro Cristiano Democratico (Christian Democratic Centre)
   1.4.2. CDU  Cristiani Democratici Uniti (United Christian Democrats).
   1.4.3. DE  Democrazia Europea  (European Democracy)
   1.4.4. PDC  Partito Democratico Cristiano  (Christian Democratic Party)
1.5. NPSI or Nuovo PSI  Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano  (New Italian Socialist Party).

2. L'Ulivo (Olive tree) coalition This currently joins together four parties and sub-coalitions. After the 2001 election the Girasole sub-coalition split into its constituents, the SDI and the Verdi; recently several deputies of the UDEUR left the Margherita group to form an own parliamentary group of the UDEUR.
2.1. DS  Democratici di Sinistra  (Democrats of the Left)
2.2. Margherita (Democrazia č libertà) - La Margherita  (Democracy is Freedom - The White Ox-Eye). The Margherita is a sub-coalition of the L'Ulivo coalition joining together parties claiming heritage of the old DC  Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democracy). The more right-wing fission products of the DC belong to Casa delle Libertà, sub-coalition UDC (see above 1.4)
   2.2.1. PPI  Partito Popolare Italiano (Italian People's Party)
   2.2.2. Democratici Democrats
   2.2.3. Rinnovamento Italiano (Italian Renewal), a.k.a. Liste Dini
   2.2.4. UDEUR  Unione Democratici per l'Europa (Union Democrats for Europe)
2.3. Girasole (Sunflower) sub-coalition
   2.3.1. Verdi  Federazione dei Verdi (Federation of the Greens)
   2.3.2. SDI  Socialisti Democratici Italiani (Italian Democratic Socialists)
2.4. PdCI  Partito dei Comunisti Italiani (Party of the Italian Communists), a.k.a. Comunisti Italiani

3. Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation Party)

4. Regionalist parties
4.1. SVP  Südtiroler Volkspartei  (South Tyrolian People's Party)
4.2. Union Valdōtaine (Aosta Valley Union)
4.3. Partito Sardo d'Azione (Sardinian Action Party)
4.4. Fronte Nazionale Siciliano Sicilia Indipendente (Sicilian National Front Independent Sicily)
4.5. Autonomisti Trentini (Trentine Autonomists)
4.6. Fronte Giuliano (Julian Front)
4.7. Liga dei Veneti (League of the Venetians)
4.8. Movimento per l'Autonomia della Romagna (Movement for the Autonomy of the Romagna)
4.9. Lega per l'autonomia lombarda (League for the Lombardian Autonomy)
4.10. Lega Sud Ausonia (Southern League Ausonia)
4.11. Lega Sannitica (Samnite League)
4.12. Liga Fronte Veneto (League Front Veneto)

5. Other parties
5.1. Left-wing
   5.1.1. PSDI  Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano (Party of the Italian Social Democrats)
   5.1.2. Radicali di Sinistra (Radicals of the Left)
   5.1.3. Partito della Rifondazione Socialista (Party of the Socialist Refoundation)
   5.1.4. PU  Partito Umanista Italiano  (Italian Humanist Party)
   5.1.5. PUDI  Partito Umanista Democratico Italiano  (Italian Democratic Humanist Party)
   5.1.6. PMLI  Partito Marxista-Leninista Italiano (Italian Marxist-Leninist Party)
5.2. Center
   5.2.1. Partito Liberale (Liberal Party)
   5.2.2. PRI  Partito Repubblicano Italiano (Italian Republican Party)
   5.2.3. F.d.L.  Federazione dei Liberali (Federation of the Liberals)
   5.2.4. Radicali Italiani (Italian Radicals), a.k.a. Partito Radicale or Lista Emma Bonino or Lista Pannella
   5.2.5. Lista di Pietro - Italia dei Valori (List di Pietro - Italy of the Values)
   5.2.6. Partito Pensionati (Pensioners' Party)
   5.2.7. Verdi Federalisti (Federalist Greens)
5.3. Right-wing
   5.3.1. MSFT  Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore (Social Movement Tricolour Flame)
   5.3.2. Movimento Italia Sociale (Movement Social Italy)
   5.3.3. Fronte Sociale Nazionale (National Social Front)
   5.3.4. Forza Nuova (New Force)

Main sources:
- [fwa02], and earlier editions of it
- website of the Camera dei Deputati , the lower house of the Parliament at www.camera.it
- website of the Senato , the upper house of the Parliament at www.senato.it
- websites of the different parties (will be cited with the more detailed discussion of the party)
Marcus Schmöger, 16 July 2002

Additional sources I use for describing the Italian parties (history and programmatics):
- www.riccati.it/ita_rep
- www.iic-berlino.de
- www.grandinotizie.it
- www.cronologia.it
- www.pericles.it
- guide.supereva.it/partiti
- Paolo Carusi (2001) I partiti politici italiani dall'Unità ad oggi. Roma (Edizioni Studium).
- Simona Colarizi (1996) Storia dei partiti nell'Italia repubblicana. Roma (Editori Laterza).
- Girogio Galli (1994) I partiti politici in Italia, 1944-1994. Torino (UTET Libreria).
- A page with all the election emblems of the 2001 election cedweb.mininterno.it:8890
- Election results 2001: cedweb.mininterno.it:8890/camera/B000000.htm, C000000.htm and senato/S000000.htm
Marcus Schmöger, 27 July 2002