Luigi Sturzo

A Sicilian priest, Sturzo founded the Italian People's Party in 1919 on a point that still defines the tradition: a party inspired by Christian values but independent of the Church hierarchy and open to non-Catholics. Its programme of local autonomy, proportional representation and cooperatives drew on the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. When the Vatican chose accommodation with Mussolini, Sturzo was forced into exile in London, where he kept the ideas alive for De Gasperi's generation.