with the
Forlani Cabinet at the
Quirinal Palace In 1980, Forlani was among the main sponsor of
Flaminio Piccoli in the party congress. Piccoli was elected secretary at the head of a
centre-right majority. Due to his fundamental role in Piccoli's election, Forlani was appointed
Prime Minister of Italy in October, leading a
centrist and closer to
centre-left coalition with PSI, PSDI and PRI.
1980 Irpinia earthquake During his premiership, Forlani had to face the Irpinia earthquake, a strong shock, that was centered on the village of
Conza in
Campania, and left at least 2,483 people dead, at least 7,700 injured, and left 250,000 homeless. Forlani's government spent 59 trillion
lire on reconstruction, while other nations sent contributions. West Germany contributed 32 million
United States dollars (USD) and the United States US$70 million. In the early 1990s, a major corruption scandal emerged. Of the billions of lire that were predestined for aid to the victims and rebuilding, the largest part disappeared from the earthquake reconstruction funds in the 1980s. Of the $40 billion spent on earthquake reconstruction, an estimated $20 billion went to create an entirely new social class of millionaires in the region, $6.4 billion went to the
Camorra, whereas another $4 billion went to politicians in bribes. Only the remaining $9.6 billion a quarter of the total amount, was actually spent on people's needs. Moreover, the
Italian Mafia entered the construction industry after the quake.
P2 scandal and resignation During his premiership, the list of who belonged to the secret lodge
Propaganda Due (P2) was published. The P2 was a
Masonic lodge founded in 1945 that by the time its Masonic
charter was withdrawn in 1976, it had transformed into a clandestine, pseudo-Masonic, and
far-right organisation, operating in contravention of Article 18 of the
Constitution of Italy that banned
secret societies. In its latter period, during which the lodge was headed by
Licio Gelli, P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the Vatican-affiliated
Banco Ambrosiano, the murders of journalist
Mino Pecorelli and banker
Roberto Calvi, and corruption cases within the nationwide bribe scandal
Tangentopoli. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of
Michele Sindona's financial empire. P2 was sometimes referred to as a "
state within a state", or a "
shadow government". The lodge had among its members prominent journalists, members of Parliament, industrialists, and military leaders—including
Silvio Berlusconi, who later became Prime Minister of Italy; the
House of Savoy royal pretender to the Italian throne
Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples; and the heads of all three Italian intelligence services (at the time
SISDE,
SISMI, and
CESIS). When searching Gelli's villa in 1981, the police found a document called the "Plan for Democratic Rebirth", which called for a
consolidation of the media, suppression of trade unions, and the rewriting of the
Italian Constitution. The lateness with which they were published gained Forlani heavy criticism, in particular from the PCI. He was therefore compelled to resign from the position, staying away from the spotlight of politics for a certain period. With his resignation and the appointment of PRI leader
Giovanni Spadolini, the unbroken line since 1945 of Christian Democrat prime ministers came to an end. ==After the premiership==