Moderate Party (Italy)

The Moderate Party (Italian: Partito Moderato, PM) was an Italian pre-unitary political party, active during the Risorgimento.

History

Until his formally foundation, the Moderates were a little group of Sardinia intellectuals and politician with reformist and nationalist ideas, like Vincenzo Gioberti, actives during the 1830s-1840s,^[1] during the reformist time of the King Charles Albert, that was blocked by the reactionary forces. The Moderates fought against the rival Italian National Association (ANI) of Giuseppe Mazzini for the methods of unified Italy: the Moderates called an Independence War, whereas the Mazzini's supportes called a popular revolution. After the failure of the Italian Revolutions of 1848, supported by the Sardinia and attempted by Mazzinians and republicans, the Moderates founded officially their party and the Statuto Albertino (Albertine Statute) was intrducted.

From its foundation, the Moderate Party wasn't cohesive, because its members were of different political ideologies: there were liberals like Massimo d'Azeglio and conservatives like Vincenzo Gioberti. However, the Moderate Party supported the Italian nationalism and the Risorgimento, but also reformist and law and order policies,^[1] different by the republican and radical Action Party, heir of the ANI. Until 1852, also supported the creation of a confederation of the Italian states, ruled by the Pope or some King with a national parliament, but after Camillo Benso di Cavour's rise this proposal was leaved, and substituted by a centralised state under the House of Savoy. During the Independece Wars, the Moderates mainteined the control of the Sardinia Parliament, despite the Action Party that under Giuseppe Garibaldi's Redshirts conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

When the Kingdom of Italy was founded in 1861, the Moderate Party ended. Its members formed the Historical Right, the right-wing group in the Italian Parliament

References

See also

• Liberalism and radicalism in Italy

19th-century political groups in Italy   Pre-Unification      Action Party      Moderate Party   After-Unification      The Extreme      The Pentarchy      Historical Left      Historical Right      Conservative Catholics Politics of Italy 20th-century Italian parties 21st-century Italian parties