History
In October 2016, mayor of Parma Federico Pizzarotti left the Five Star Movement (M5S)[3] due to disagreements with the movement's founder, Beppe Grillo and his suspension from the party in the previous May.[4] In the 2012 local elections, Pizzarotti had been the first M5S member to win in a big city, with 60.2% of the vote in the run-off (up from 19.5% in the first round).[5]
In the 2017 local elections, Pizzarotti was re-elected mayor without the M5S' support, with 58.9% in the run-off.[6]
In April 2018, Pizzarotti launched Italia in Comune,[7][1][8] which aimed at becoming the collector of local "civic lists", as well as disgruntled former M5S members. The party was co-founded by Alessio Pascucci, a left-wing independent who had been elected mayor of Cerveteri, Lazio in 2012 and 2017, supported by civic lists and the Federation of the Greens (FdV).[9][10]
In October 2018, Serse Soverini, a member of the Chamber of Deputies elected in the 2018 general election as a representative of Civic Area, a minor progressive party close to Romano Prodi, joined IiC[11] and soon became the party's regional coordinator in Emilia-Romagna, the region of Parma and, consequently, IiC's powerbase.[12] Almost a year later, in September 2019, after Matteo Renzi had left to form Italia Viva, Soverini would leave IiC too and join the Democratic Party.[13][14]
In the early months of 2019 the party became involved in the centre-left coalition, and obtained promising results in regional elections in Abruzzo (3.9% of the vote and one regional councillor) and Sardinia (2.5%). In February Free Alternative, another party formed by M5S splinters, announced that it was merging into IiC.[15]
In the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament election, IiC formed an alliance with the FdV, Green Italia and minor green groups, which would result in a green joint electoral list.[16][17] However, soon after the party switched allegiances, deserted the FdV and joined forces with More Europe (+E), a liberal party,[18][19][20] which was later enlarged to the Italian Socialist Party (PSI).[21]
In the run-up of the 2022 general election IiC lacked activity,[22] and its leading members parted ways. President Pizzarotti formed a National Civic List and successively joined forces with Piercamillo Falasca's L'Italia c'è,[23] Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva[24][25] and Carlo Calenda's Action,[26] while Alessio Pascucci organised the National Civic Agenda/Network[27] and joined Luigi Di Maio's Civic Commitment.[28][29][30] In August 2022, shortly before the election, both groups broke with their would-be allies.[31][32]
In late 2022 Pizzarotti and Falasca re-joined +E, while continuing to be part of L'Italia c'è.[33] In February 2023 Pizzarotti was elected president of +E.[34]
