Early years
The party was founded as the revival of the Italian People's Party (PPI), a political party created in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo, a Catholic priest. The PPI won over 20% of the votes in the See more

The DC was characterised by a number of factions, spanning from left to right and continually evolving.
In the early years, centrists and liberal-conservatives such … See more

Having ruled Italy for over 40 years with no alternative other than the Italian Communist Party, DC members had ample opportunity to abuse their power, and some did. In the 1960s scandals involved frauds such as huge illegal profits in the administration of … See more

• The Crusader Shield, DC’s official logo
• Electoral logo (1946–1991)
• Electoral logo (1992–1993) See more

The party's ideological sources were principally to be found in Catholic social teaching, the Christian democratic doctrines developed … See more

In its early years the party was stronger in Northern Italy, and especially in eastern Lombardy and Veneto, due to the strong Catholic roots of that areas, than in the South, where the Liberal establishment that had governed Italy for decades before the rise of See more

• Secretary: Alcide De Gasperi (1944–1946), Attilio Piccioni (1946–1949), Giuseppe Cappi (1949), Paolo Emilio Taviani (1949–1950), Guido Gonella (1950–1953), Alcide De Gasperi (1953–1954), Amintore Fanfani (1954–1959), Aldo Moro (1959–1964), See more