Forza Italia
Forza Italia (pronounced [ˈfɔrtsa iˈtaːlja]; FI), officially Forza Italia Political Movement (Movimento Politico Forza Italia), was a centre-right political party in Italy with liberal-conservative,Christian-democratic,liberal and populist tendencies, as well as a significant social-democratic minority. Its leader was Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy.
The party was founded in December 1993 and won its first general election soon afterwards in March 1994. It was the main member of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government, Pole for Freedoms and House of Freedoms coalitions, and is considered (by both insiders and outsiders) to have been very different from the other Italian political parties.
In November 2008 the National Council of the party, under the chairmanship of Alfredo Biondi, voted to merge Forza Italia into The People of Freedom (PdL), Berlusconi's new political vehicle, whose official foundation took place in March 2009.
Throughout its existence, the party was characterised by a strong reliance on the personal image and charisma of its leader—it has therefore been called a "personality party" or Berlusconi's "personal party"—and the skillful use of media campaigns, especially via television. The party's organisation and ideology depended heavily on its leader. Its appeal to voters was based on Berlusconi's personality more than on its ideology or programme.
