Amintore Fanfani

Amintore Fanfani is a rather unique character within the Italian Christian Democrats.

First of all, he is considered to be a leading figure of the current left-leaning tendency within the party. Additionally, in a party partially filled with embarrassed former fascists, Fanfani openly admits his former attraction to the fascist ideology, confesses to being wrong in many ways, but also states that he still has a belief in the benefits of a corporate state. Although he was formerly a loyal member of the PNF, and a pro-fascist professor in Milan, he secretly became a pro-democratic academic dissident towards the later years of Mussolini's regime, and in 1943 openly defected from his duties (including military service), and taught Italian refugees and dissidents in southern Switzerland until the end of the war. it is during this later rebellious phase that he made connections that would be vital to his post-war entry into politics. Since then, Fanfani has been an important figure within the Christian Democrats, serving in several cabinet-level positions, as well as Party Secretary, but most recently as Prime Minister of Italy. As Prime Minister, Fanfani's somewhat domineering nature and tendency to give credit to controversial political movements (on both the left and the right) have created for him a considerable number of opponents, but he remains popular within his wing of the party.

At the current time, Fanfani struggles with balancing the divisions within the governing coalition, as well as the various political fractures across the nation itself.