1.
Prime Minister of Italy
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The office of Prime Minister is established by Articles 92 through to 96 of the Constitution of Italy. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic after each general election, prior to the establishment of the Italian Republic, the position was called President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy. King Victor Emmanuel III removed Mussolini from office in 1943 and the position was restored with Marshal Pietro Badoglio becoming Prime Minister in 1943, Alcide De Gasperi became the first Prime Minister of the Italian Republic in 1946. The Prime Minister is the President of the Council of Ministers—which holds executive power, the position is similar to those in most other parliamentary systems. The formal Italian order of precedence lists the office as being ceremonially the fourth most important Italian state office, as the President of the Council of Ministers the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet. In addition the Prime Minister leads a political party and generally commands the majority in the Parliament. Article 95 of the Italian constitution provides that the Prime Minister directs, the Prime Ministers activity has often consisted of mediating between the various parties in the majority coalition, rather than directing the activity of the Council of Ministers. The office was first established in 1848 in Italys predecessor state, the Kingdom of Sardinia—although it was not mentioned in its constitution, from 1848 to 1861 ten Prime Ministers governed the Kingdom, most of them being right-wing politicians. After the Unification of Italy and the establishment of the kingdom, in fact the candidate for office was appointed by the king, and presided over a very unstable political system. The first Prime Minister was Camillo Benso di Cavour, who was appointed on 23 March 1861, from 1861 to 1911 Historical Right and Left Prime Ministers alternatively governed the country. One of the most famous and influential Prime Ministers of this period was Francesco Crispi, a patriot and statesman. He led the country for six years, from 1887 until 1891, Crispi was internationally famous and often mentioned along with world statesmen such as Bismarck, Gladstone and Salisbury. Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and democrat liberal, he went on to become a bellicose authoritarian prime minister, ally, and admirer of Bismarck. His career ended amid controversy and failure due to becoming involved in a banking scandal. He is often seen as a precursor of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, in 1892 Giovanni Giolitti, a young leftist politician, was elected Prime Minister by king Umberto I, but after less than a year he was forced to resign and Crispi returned to power. In 1903 after a period of instability he was appointed head of the government. Giolitti was the Prime Minister five times between 1892 and 1921 and the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Mussolini, under his influence, the Italian Liberals did not develop as a structured party. They were instead a series of informal personal groupings with no links to political constituencies
2.
Francesco Cossiga
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Francesco Cossiga, OMRI was an Italian politician of the Christian Democracy party. He was the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1979 to 1980 and he was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari. Cossiga was born in Sassari in northern Sardinia and he started his political career during World War II. His name is now pronounced, but it was originally pronounced, with the stress on the first syllable, meaning Corsica in Sardinian. He was the cousin of Enrico Berlinguer and he was a minister several times for the Democrazia Cristiana party, notably during his stay at Viminale where he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. He was in office at the time of the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by Red Brigades, and resigned as Minister of the Interior when Moro was found dead in 1978. According to Italian journalist Enrico Deaglio, Cossiga, to justify his lack of action, accused the leaders of CGIL, Cossiga was also minister of internal affairs when Fascist terrorists bombed Bologna station in 1980. Francesco Cossiga first assumed the explosion to have been caused by an accident, Cossiga was elected President of the Italian Senate 12 July 1983, a position he held until 24 June 1985, when he became the President of Italy. Following his resignation as president of the Senate in 1985, Cossiga was elected as President of Italy and this was the first time an Italian presidential candidate had won on the first ballot. It was not until his last two years as President that Cossiga began to some unusual opinions regarding the Italian political system. He opined that the Italian parties, especially the DC and Italian Communist Party, had to take account the deep changes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall. Cossiga suffered from bipolar disorder and depression in the last years of his life, tension developed between Cossiga and Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Cossiga acknowledged his involvement in the establishment of the organization, the Democratic Party of the Left started the procedure of impeachment. Although he threatened to prevent the impeachment procedure by dissolving Parliament, Cossiga resigned two months before the end of his term, on 25 April 1992. In February 1998, Cossiga created the Unione Democratica per la Repubblica, the UDR was a crucial component of the majority that supported the DAlema government in October 1998, after the fall of the Prodi government which lost a vote of confidence. Cossiga declared that his support for DAlema was intended to end the exclusion of the former Communist Party leaders from the premiership in Italy. In 1999 UDR was dissolved and Cossiga returned to his activities as a senator, on 27 November 2006, he resigned from his position as a lifetime senator. His resignation was, however, rejected on 31 January 2007 by a vote of the Senate, Cossiga died on 17 August 2010 from respiratory problems
3.
Giulio Andreotti
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Andreotti is widely considered the most powerful and prominent politician of the so-called First Republic. In foreign policy, he guided Italys European Union integration, admirers of Andreotti saw him as having mediated political and social contradictions, enabling the transformation of a substantially rural country into the fifth-biggest economy in the world. Critics said he had nothing against a system of patronage that had led to pervasive corruption. At the height of his prestige as a statesman, Andreotti was subjected to damaging criminal prosecutions, charged with colluding with Cosa Nostra, courts found he had broken the links by the 1980s, and ruled the case out of time. The most sensational allegation came from prosecutors in Perugia, who charged him with ordering the murder of a journalist and he was found guilty at a trial, which led to complaints that the justice system had gone mad. Definitively acquitted by the court, Andreotti remarked, Apart from the Punic Wars, for which I was too young. Andreotti served as the 41st Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and he also served as Minister of the Interior, Defence Minister and Foreign Minister and was a Senator for life from 1991 until his death in 2013. He was also a journalist and author, Andreotti was sometimes called Divo Giulio. During the 16th term of the Senate in 2008–13, he opted to join the parliamentary group UDC – independence, Giulio Andreotti, the youngest of three children, was born on 14 January 1919 in Rome. His father was a school teacher from Segni, a small town in Lazio. Andreotti attended the Liceo Torquato Tasso in Rome and graduated in Law at the University of Rome and he showed some ferocity as a youth, once stubbing out a lit taper in the eye of another altar boy who was ridiculing him. His mother was described as not very affectionate, and an aunt is said to have advised him to remember that few things in life are important, as an adult he was described as having a somewhat unusual demeanor for an Italian politician, being mild-mannered and unassuming. Andreotti did not use his influence to advance his children to prominence, see all, tolerate much, and correct one thing at a time, was a quote that emphasised what has been called his art of the possible view of politics. Andreotti was known for his discretion and retentive memory, and also a sense of humour, Andreotti did not shine at his school and started work in a tax office while studying law at the University of Rome. In this period he became a member of the Italian Catholic Federation of University Students and its members included many of the future leaders of the Italian Christian Democracy. In 1938 while researching the papal navy in the Vatican library, he met Alcide De Gasperi, De Gasperi asked Andreotti if he had nothing better to do with his time, inspiring him to become politically active. Speaking of De Gasperi, Andreotti said, He taught us to search for compromise, in July 1939, while Aldo Moro was president of FUCI, Andreotti became director of its magazine Azione Fucina. In 1942, when Moro was enrolled in the Italian Army, Andreotti succeeded him as president of FUCI, during his early years Andreotti suffered violent migraines that forced him to sporadically make use of psychoactive drugs and opiates
4.
Arnaldo Forlani
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This article is about the Italian legislator. For the similar name used as an alias by terrorist Ramzi Yousef for Philippine Airlines Flight 434, arnaldo Forlani is an Italian politician who served as the 43rd Prime Minister of Italy from 18 October 1980 to 28 June 1981. He was previously a member of the right-wing of the Italian Christian Democratic Party, at age 91, Forlani is currently the oldest living former Italian prime minister. Forlani was born in Pesaro, Marche, after the degree in law, Forlani began his career as politician in 1948, holding the position of provincial leader of Italian Christian Democratic Party in Pesaro and Urbino. In 1954 he became a member of the directive of DC. He was first elected to the chamber of deputies in 1958, in 1969 he had been elected as president of DC. As prime minister he had to deal with corruption scandals within his party, an earthquake in southern Italy and he was known as an unflamboyant politician who attempted to stay out of the factionalism in his party. During his presidency, the list of who belonged to the secret lodge P2 was published, however, the lateness with which they were published gained Forlani heavy criticism. He was therefore compelled to resign from the position, staying away from spotlight of politics for a certain period, with his resignation, the unbroken line since 1945 of DC Prime Ministers came to an end. In the two led by Bettino Craxi in the 1980s, Forlani was the Vice Prime Minister. In 1992, Forlani was a candidate for President of Italy, however, he did not get elected. During the Tangentopoli scandal, Forlani was charged of having received illegal funds and his former spokesman, Pier Ferdinando Casini, is considered Forlanis politics direct heir
5.
Minister without portfolio
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A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. Stanley Bruce was given the title of Minister without Portfolio when he took up his position in 1932 as the Commonwealth Minister in London and he was given the title by Lyons Cabinet so that he could better represent the PM and his colleagues free from the limitations of a portfolio. In this case the title was a promotion and carried considerable responsibilities, bangladesh appoints ministers without portfolio during cabinet reshuffles or fresh appointments. Ministers are not usually appointed without portfolio as a coalition negotiation – all long run ministers end up with a portfolio, suranjit Sengupta was a minister without portfolio in Sheikh Hasinas second government. Notable Conservatives who filled the role include R. B, bennett, and Arthur Meighen, however, Meighen served this role after he had been prime minister. The practice has continued under the guise of ministers of state without responsibilities in the ministers titles, three control ministers served as ministers without portfolio during World War I. After the Liberation of Denmark in May 1945, the first Danish cabinet included four ministers without portfolio, kauffmann served in this capacity from 12 May to 7 November 1945. The three other holders of this title had joined the cabinet a few days before – Aksel Larsen, lise Østergaard held a position as minister without portfolio with special attention to foreign policy issues in Anker Jørgensens cabinet from 26 February 1977 to 28 February 1980. Anders Fogh Rasmussen appointed Bertel Haarder to Minister without Portfolio, Haarder served in this capacity from 27 November 2001 to 18 February 2005. The reason for appointing a minister without a ministry was the Danish European Union Presidency of 2002, Haarder was considered the most experienced Danish politician on European affairs. Tamás Fellegi Kunwar Natwar Singh Since the inception of the state, Indonesia had ministers without portfolio, the number was not fixed, entirely depended on the behest of the President. Below is the list of Ministers without Portfolio in each Cabinet, Mohammad Amir Abdul Wahid Hasyim Sartono Alexander Andries Maramis Mohammad Amir Oto Iskandar di Nata Rasjidi Wikana Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwana IX Abdul Wahid Hasyim Wikana Dr. Such a minister may nevertheless be given a specific title, the only substantive minister without portfolio has been Frank Aiken, the Minister for the Co-ordination of Defensive Measures during World War II. By the Emergency Powers Act 1939 then in force, the Minister for Defence was able to delegate some competences to him, such delegation is now done instead with Ministers of State, junior ministers who are not members of the government. Junior ministers can be given a right to sit at cabinet and this allows the Government to circumvent the Constitutional limit on the number of Senior Ministers. On several occasions a minister has been appointed to a government with the title of a new Department of State. Between the date of appointment and the date of creation of the department, examples include, It is common practice in Israel to appoint ministers without portfolio as part of the coalition negotiations. All cabinets in recent years have had at least some such appointment, departments on equalities, European affairs and relations with regions, for example, are usually led by ministers without portfolio
6.
Aldo Moro
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Aldo Romeo Luigi Moro was an Italian statesman and politician, and a prominent member of the Christian Democracy party. He served as 38th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968 and he was one of Italys longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than seven years. A leader of Christian Democracy, Moro was considered an intellectual and he was kidnapped on 16 March 1978 by the Red Brigades and killed after 55 days of captivity. Moro was born in Maglie, in the province of Lecce, at age 4, he moved with his family to Milan, but they soon moved back to Apulia, where he gained a classical high school degree at Archita lyceum in Taranto. Until 1939, he studied Law at the University of Bari, in 1935, he joined the Catholic university students association of Bari. In 1939, under approval of Giovanni Battista Montini whom he had befriended, Moro was chosen as president of the association, he kept the post till 1942, succeeded by Giulio Andreotti. During his university years, Italy was under the Fascist government and he then founded the periodical La Rassegna, published in 1943–1945. In 1945, he married Eleonora Chiavarelli, with whom he had four children, Maria Fida, Agnese, Anna, Moro developed his interest in politics between 1943 and 1945. Initially, he seemed to be interested in the social-democratic component of the Italian Socialist Party. In the DC, he took part in the work of the leftist trend, in 1945 he became director of the magazine Studium and president of the Graduated Movement of the Azione Cattolica. In 1946, he was nominated vice-president of the Democrazia Cristiana and elected member of the Constitutional Assembly, in 1948 he was elected to the Italian Parliament and nominated vice-minister of Foreign Affairs in the 5th De Gasperi cabinet. In 1953 Moro, was re-elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies and he was chosen as Minister of Grace and Justice in the Antonio Segni 1st cabinet in 1955. Minister of Education in the following Adone Zoli and Amintore Fanfani-II cabinets, in 1959, at the 6th partys congress he gained the post of National Secretary of the DC. In 1963, he was nominated Prime Minister of Italy for the first time and his government was unevenly supported by the DC, but also by the Italian Socialist Party, along with the minor Italian Republican Party and Italian Democratic Socialist Party. The centre-left coalition, a first for the Italian post-war political panorama and his 3rd cabinet stayed in power for 833 days, a record for Italys so-called First Republic. In the 1968 DCs congress, Moro yielded the Secretariat and passed to internal opposition, from 1974 to 1976, he re-gained the post of Prime Minister, and concluded the Osimo Treaty with Yugoslavia, defining the official partition of the Free Territory of Trieste. In 1976 he was elected President of the DC National Council, a wide range of social reforms were carried out during Moros periods as prime minister. The 1967 Ponte Law introduced urgent housing provisions as part of a reform of the entire sector, such as the introduction of minimum standards for housing
7.
Campania
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Campania is a region in Southern Italy. Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands, Campania was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was part of Magna Græcia. During the Roman era, the area maintained a Greco-Roman culture, the capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Velia. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, the rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece, known as Cumaeans, another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, moved down from central Italy into Campania. The Roman consul Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC, the Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south. Campania was a part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC, valued for its pastures. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, during the Pyrrhic War the battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum, which grew in stature until it was only to Capua in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua, in a bid for equality with Rome, the rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained allies of Rome. Naples resisted Hannibal due to the imposing walls, Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious. The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised. As part of the Roman Empire, Campania, with Latium, Roman Emperors chose Campania as a holiday destination, among them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri. It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania, Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time. Unfortunately, the period of calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, under the Normans, the smaller independent states were brought together as part of the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period elements of Spanish, French
8.
Kingdom of Italy
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals
9.
Italians
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
10.
Democratic Party (Italy)
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The Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Italy. The partys acting leader is Matteo Orfini, who replaced Matteo Renzi after his resignation in February 2017, in April–May the party will hold a leadership election and Renzi is again running for secretary. The PD was founded on 14 October 2007 upon the merger of various centre-left parties which had part of The Olive Tree list. The PDs main ideological trends are thus social democracy and the Italian Christian leftist tradition, the party has been also influenced by social liberalism, which was already present in some of the founding components of the DS and DL, and more generally by a Third Way progressivism. Following the 2013 general election and the 2014 European Parliament election, the PD was the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the European Parliament. From 2013 the Italian government has been led by three successive Democratic Prime Ministers, Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi, and Paolo Gentiloni. As of 2017, other than the government, Democrats head fourteen regional governments out of twenty and function as coalition partner in Tuscany. Former bigwigs include Giorgio Napolitano, Sergio Mattarella, Romano Prodi, Giuliano Amato, Massimo DAlema, Pier Luigi Bersani, Francesco Rutelli, the coalition, in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, won the 1996 general election and Prodi became Prime Minister. In February 1998 the PDS merged with minor parties to become the Democrats of the Left, while in March 2002 the PPI, RI. In the summer of 2003 Prodi suggested that the forces would participate in the 2004 European Parliament election with a common list. Whereas the Union of Democrats for Europe and the far-left parties refused, four parties accepted, the DS, DL, the Italian Democratic Socialists and the European Republicans Movement. They launched a joint list named United in the Olive Tree, the project was later abandoned in 2005 by the SDI. In the 2006 general election the list obtained 31. 3% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies, eight parties agreed to merge into the PD, Democrats of the Left Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. Southern Democratic Party, Sardinia Project, European Republicans Movement, Democratic Republicans, Middle Italy, while the DL agreed to the merger with virtually no resistance, the DS experienced a more heated final congress. On 19 April 2007 approximately 75% of party members voted in support of the merger of the DS into the PD, the left-wing opposition, led by Fabio Mussi, obtained just 15% of the support within the party. A third motion, presented by Gavino Angius and supportive of the PD only within the Party of European Socialists, during and following the congress, both Mussi and Angius announced their intention not to join the PD and founded a new party called Democratic Left. On 22 May 2007 the composition of the committee of the nascent party was announced. On 18 June the committee met to decide the rules for the election of the 2,400 members of the partys constituent assembly
11.
Avellino
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Avellino listen is a town and comune, capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a surrounded by mountains 50 kilometres northeast of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. Before the Roman conquest, the ancient Abellinum was a centre of the Samnite Hirpini, located on the Civita hill some 4 kilometres outside the current town, the city could correspond to the ancient Velecha, documented by coins found in the area. Abellinum was conquered by the Romans in 293 BC, changing several times in the following centuries. However, the edification of a true Roman town occurred only after the conquest by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 89 BC, the town was Christianized around 500 AD, becoming an episcopal seat. There followed the invasions of the Goths and Vandals, after the Lombard conquest of southern Italy, the ancient city was abandoned, and a new settlement grew on the Terra hill, corresponding to the modern Avellino. Defended by a castle, it part of the Duchy of Benevento and, after the latters fall. In 1100, during the Norman rule of southern Italy, it was acquired by Riccardo dellAquila, later, King Charles I of Anjou assigned it to the Montfort family, who were succeeded by the Del Balzo and the Filangieri. The feudal rights to Avellino were purchased in 1581 by Don Marino I Caracciolo, duke of Atripalda, of a family of Naples. Avellino became the seat of the Caracciolo. Don Marino’s son and grandson were consecutively Grand Chancellor of the Kingdom of Naples, the grandson, Don Marino II, was the patron of Giambattista Basile, author of the Pentamerone. In 1820 Avellino was seat of revolutionary riots, however, the Unification of Italy some fifty years later did not bring any benefit to the city, being cut off from the main railway line Naples-Benevento-Foggia, and far from the sea as well. In 1943 the city was bombed by Allied planes in an attempt to cut off the retreat of German panzer units over the important Bridge of Ferriera. Avellino has suffered from seismic activity throughout its history and was hard by the earthquakes of 23 November 1980 and 14 February 1981. The 1980 Irpinia earthquake represented a turning point for the town, large amounts of money flowed in for infrastructure investment, and the extra money generated innovation and economic expansion more generally. By 2008 a per capita income level of €20,180 placed Avellino well above the regional average in terms of individual prosperity. Nevertheless, tobacco, viticulture and, especially the production of hazelnuts remain important to the economy and, with increased investment in recent years. Many small and medium-sized businesses are located in the zones, including notably FMA who produce engines for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Alfa Romeo
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