Alcide De Gasperi

De Gasperi led eight successive Italian governments between 1945 and 1953, first with Communists and Socialists in post-war national unity, then with small centrist parties after 1947. His Christian Democrats could have governed alone after winning a majority in 1948, yet he kept the Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats inside, a choice that made the young republic more stable. That period delivered the constitution, land reform in the south and Italy's entry into NATO and the European Coal and Steel Community.