Foundation and early years In February 1991, when the
Italian Communist Party (PCI) was transformed into the
Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) under the leadership of
Achille Occhetto, left-wing dissidents led by
Armando Cossutta launched the Movement for Communist Refoundation. Hardliners in PCI were not happy about the changes made inside the party after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Later that year,
Proletarian Democracy (DP), a far-left outfit, dissolved itself so that its members could join the PCI dissidents and form a united front composed of all Italian communists. In December, the PRC was officially founded and
Sergio Garavini was elected secretary. In the
1992 general election, the party obtained 5.6% of the vote. Garavini resigned from his role as secretary in June 1993 and was replaced by
Fausto Bertinotti, a trade unionist of the
Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) who had left the PDS only a few months before. In the
1994 general election, the PRC was part of the PDS-led
Alliance of Progressives and obtained 6.1% of the vote. In June 1995, a splinter group led by
Lucio Magri and
Famiano Crucianelli formed the
Movement of Unitarian Communists (MCU), which would eventually merge with the PDS, being one of the founding members of the
Democrats of the Left (DS) in February 1998.
Bertinotti vs. Cossutta The leadership of Bertinotti was a turning point for the party, which jumped to 8.6% of vote in the
1996 general election, fought by the party in a loose alliance with
The Olive Tree, the major
centre-left coalition whose dominant partner was the PDS. After the election, the PRC decided to externally support the
first cabinet led by
Romano Prodi. Tensions soon arose within the coalition and the party. In October 1998 the PRC was divided between those who wanted to stop supporting Prodi's government, led by Bertinotti; and those who wanted to continue the alliance, led by Cossutta, the party's president. The central committee endorsed Bertinotti's line, but Cossutta and his followers decided to ignore this line and to support Prodi. The votes of the
cossuttiani were not enough and the government lost a confidence vote in Parliament. The dissidents, who controlled the majority of deputies and senators, split and formed a rival communist party, the
Party of Italian Communists (PdCI), which would soon join the
first cabinet led by
Massimo D'Alema, the leader of the DS, who replaced Prodi and became the first post-communist to hold the job of
Prime Minister of Italy. Deprived of most of its parliamentary representation, the PRC fought for its existence and voters supported it rather than the PdCI, both in the
1999 European Parliament election (4.3% to 2.0%) and the
2001 general election (5.0% to 1.7%).
Renewal and heyday at a party congress in 1999 Despite competition from the PdCI, the PRC confirmed its status as Italy's largest communist party. Having been left by most traditional communists, it also started to enlarge its scope aiming at becoming a collector of radical
social movements and, foremost, the main representative of the
anti-globalization movement in
Italy. The PRC also forged new alliances at the European level and was instrumental in the foundation of the
Party of the European Left in May 2004. In October 2004, the PRC re-joined the centre-left coalition, once again led by Prodi. In April 2005,
Nichi Vendola, an openly
gay politician and one of the emerging leaders of the party, won a primary election and was elected president of traditionally conservative
southern region of
Apulia, becoming the only regional president ever belonging to the PRC. In the
2006 general election, the PRC was part of
The Union, which won narrowly over the
centre-right House of Freedoms coalition and the party obtained 5.8%. After the election, Bertinotti was elected
President of the Chamber of Deputies and replaced by
Franco Giordano as secretary. Additionally, for the first time it entered a government by joining the
Prodi II Cabinet, with
Paolo Ferrero Minister of Social Solidarity and seven undersecretaries. The decision to participate in the coalition government and vote to refinance the Italian military presence in
Afghanistan and send troops to
Lebanon attracted criticism from sectors of the European far-left and provoked the splits of several groups from the ranks of his own party, notably including the
Workers' Communist Party, the
Communist Alternative Party and
Critical Left. Prodi, whose majority was weak and fragmented, resigned in January 2008.
Crisis, splits and decline For the
2008 general election, the PRC formed a joint list named
Rainbow Left (SA) with the PdCI, the
Federation of the Greens and the
Democratic Left under Bertinotti's leadership. SA obtained a mere 3.1% (compared to 10.2% won by the constituent parties individually two years before) and no seats. Consequently, Bertinotti quit politics and Giordano resigned and after that some
bertinottiani, led by Ferrero and
Giovanni Russo Spena (both former
Proletarian Democracy members), had forged an alliance with former
cossuttiani. At the July 2008 congress, the PRC was highly divided around ideological and regional lines with Vendola, the
bertinottiani's standard-bearer, accusing northern delegates of having absorbed
leghismo and stating that it was the end of the party as he knew it. The internal left-wing (which wanted to return to PRC's original communist project) finally prevailed over the bulk of
bertinottiani (who insisted on the creation of a broader left-wing party) and Ferrero was elected secretary by the central committee with 50.5%. In January 2009, the faction around Vendola and Giordano, silently supported by Bertinotti, left the PRC and launched the
Movement for the Left (MpS), aimed at forming a broader left-wing party, which would eventually be
Left Ecology Freedom (SEL).
Left-wing alliances In the
2009 European Parliament election the PRC ran with the PdCI and minor groups within the
Anticapitalist and Communist List, obtaining 3.4% of the vote and no
MEPs. In April 2009 the list was transformed into the
Federation of the Left, which would be disbanded by the end of 2012 and officially dissolved in 2015. In the
2013 general election the PRC ran within
Civil Revolution along with the PdCI, the Greens,
Italy of Values and minor groups, obtaining 2.2% and no seats. In the
2014 European Parliament election the PRC was part of
The Other Europe, which obtained 4.0% of the vote and three MEPs, including PRC's
Eleonora Forenza. In April 2017 Ferrero was replaced as secretary by
Maurizio Acerbo, a former member of the
Chamber of Deputies. In the
2018 general election the PRC was part of the
Power to the People (PaP) electoral list, which obtained 1.1% of the vote and no seats. In 2020–2021 the party was briefly represented in the Senate by
Paola Nugnes, a splinter from the
Five Star Movement who later joined
Italian Left (SI). In the
2019 European Parliament election the PRC was part of
The Left electoral list, which obtained 1.8% and no seats. In February 2022 the party formed a joint sub-group with PaP in the Chamber of Deputies' Mixed Group. In June 2022 the same happened in the Senate, and senator Nugnes returned to the party. In the run-up of the
2022 general election the PRC was a founding member of the
People's Union (UP), a left-wing electoral list led by
Luigi de Magistris. In the run-up of the February 2025 congress the proposition put forward by incumbent secretary Acerbo obtained 50.7% of the vote of party members in local congresses, while a large majority led by Ferrero won 49.3%. As a result, Acerbo was narrowly re-elected secretary. In April 2026, the party's national committee voted to join a
centre-left coalition for the
next general election. Out of 169 total votes cast, the motion passed with 89 in favor and 80 against. The result reflected a split within the party leadership between those favouring a broad democratic front against the
centre-right government, the line proposed by secretary Acerbo, and those opposed to any formal electoral alliance with the centre-left, the line put forward by former secretary Ferrero. == Factions ==