| Legislature I of Italy | |
| Native Name: | I legislatura della Repubblica Italiana |
| Native Name Lang: | it |
| Legislature: | 1st legislature |
| Coa Caption: | Emblems of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies |
| House Type: | bicameral |
| Houses: | Chamber of Deputies Senate of the Republic |
| Disbanded: | |
| Preceded By: | Constituent Assembly |
| Succeeded By: | II Legislature |
| Leader1 Type: | President of the Senate |
| Leader2 Type: | President of the Chamber of Deputies |
| Leader2: | Giovanni Gronchi |
| Party2: | DC |
| Election2: | 8 May 1948 |
| Seats: | 574 (C) 343 (S) |
| House1: | Chamber of Deputies |
| House2: | Senate |
| Voting System1: | Proportional |
| Voting System2: | Proportional |
| Last Election3: | 18 April 1948 |
| Meeting Place: | Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome (C) |
| Meeting Place2: | Palazzo Madama, Rome (S) |
| Website: | First Legislature – Chamber of Deputies First Legislature – Senate |
| Constitution: | Constitution of Italy |
The Legislature I of Italy (Italian: I Legislatura della Repubblica Italiana) was the 1st legislature of the Italian Republic, and lasted from 8 May 1948 until 24 June 1953.[1] [2] Its composition was the one resulting from the general election of 18 April 1948.
In the 1948 general election Christian Democracy (DC) went on to win a decisive victory with the support of the Catholic Church and obtained 48.5% of the vote, defeating the leftist social-communist alliance of the Popular Democratic Front (FDP). Despite his party's absolute majority in the Italian Parliament, Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi continued to govern at the head of the centrist coalition, which was successively abandoned by the Italian Liberal Party (PLI) in 1950 and by the Socialist Party of Italian Workers (PSLI) in 1951.
Under De Gasperi, the first republican Parliament carried out major land reforms to help the poorer rural regions in the early postwar years, with farms appropriated from the large landowners and parcelled out to the peasants. In addition, the Parliament passed a number of laws safeguarding employees from exploitation, established a national health service, and initiated low-cost housing in Italy’s major cities.[3] Here's a list of the main laws approved by the Parliament:
The end of the legislature was characterized by some controversial changes in the electoral law proposed by the government. Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced a superbonus of two thirds of seats in the Chamber of Deputies for the coalition which would obtain at-large the absolute majority of votes. The change was hugely opposed by the opposition parties as well as the smaller DC coalition partners, which had no realistic chances of success. The new law was called Scam Law by its detractors,[4] including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificial landslide to the DC.
On 10 May 1948 the newly elected Parliament met to elect the first President of Italy. On 11 May 1948 liberal economist Luigi Einaudi was elected on the fourth ballot with 518 votes out of 900.
| Prime Minister | Party | Term of office | Government | Composition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | ||||||||
| Alcide De Gasperi | Christian Democracy | 23 May 1948 | 27 January 1950 | bgcolor=#D5EFFF | De Gasperi V | bgcolor=#D5EFFF | DC • PSLI • PLI • PRI | ||
| 27 January 1950 | 26 July 1951 | bgcolor=#D5EFFF | De Gasperi VI | bgcolor=#D5EFFF | DC • PSLI • PRI | ||||
| 26 July 1951 | 16 July 1953 | bgcolor=#D5EFFF | De Gasperi VII | bgcolor=#D5EFFF | DC • PRI | ||||
| 16 June–2 July 1948 Investiture votes for De Gasperi V Cabinet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| House of Parliament | Vote | Parties | Votes |
| Chamber of Deputies | Yes | ||
| No | |||
| Senate of the Republic | Yes | ||
| No | |||
| Abstention | Others | ||
| 14 February–1 March 1950 Investiture votes for De Gasperi VI Cabinet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| House of Parliament | Vote | Parties | Votes |
| Chamber of Deputies | Yes | ||
| No | |||
| Senate of the Republic | Yes | ||
| No | |||
| Abstention | Others | ||
| 8–9 August 1951 Investiture votes for De Gasperi VII Cabinet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| House of Parliament | Vote | Parties | Votes |
| Senate of the Republic | Yes | ||
| No | |||
| Abstention | Others | ||
| Chamber of Deputies | Yes | ||
| No | |||
| Initial composition[5] (8 May 1948) | Final composition (24 June 1953) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parliamentary group | Seats | Parliamentary group | Seats | Change | |||||
| Christian Democracy | 305 | Christian Democracy | 300 | 5 | |||||
| Popular Democratic Front | 183 | Italian Communist Party | 126 | 4 | |||||
| Italian Socialist Party | 53 | ||||||||
| Socialist Unity | 33 | Socialist Unity | 33 | ||||||
| National Bloc | 19 | Italian Liberal Party | 13 | 6 | |||||
| Monarchist National Party | 14 | Monarchist National Party | 19 | 5 | |||||
| Italian Republican Party | 9 | Italian Republican Party | 8 | 1 | |||||
| Italian Social Movement | 6 | Italian Social Movement | 6 | ||||||
| Mixed | 5 | Mixed | 16 | 11 | |||||
| Südtiroler Volkspartei | 3 | Südtiroler Volkspartei | 3 | ||||||
| Peasants' Party of Italy | 1 | Peasants' Party of Italy | 1 | ||||||
| Sardinian Action Party | 1 | Sardinian Action Party | 1 | ||||||
| Independents – Non inscrits | 11 | 11 | |||||||
| Total seats | 574 | Total seats | 574 | ||||||
| Initial composition[6] (8 May 1948) | Final composition (24 June 1953) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parliamentary group | Seats | Parliamentary group | Seats | Change | |||||
| Christian Democracy | 148 | Christian Democracy | 146 | 2 | |||||
| Italian Communist Party | 77 | Italian Communist Party | 73 | 4 | |||||
| Italian Socialist Party | 41 | Italian Socialist Party | 38 | 3 | |||||
| Socialist Unity | 23 | Socialist Unity | 21 | 2 | |||||
| Italian Republican Party | 11 | Italian Republican Party | 7 | 4 | |||||
| National Bloc | 10 | Italian Liberal Party | 9 | 1 | |||||
| Italian Social Movement | 3 | Italian Social Movement | 3 | ||||||
| Mixed | 30 | Mixed | 20 | 10 | |||||
| Südtiroler Volkspartei | 2 | Südtiroler Volkspartei | 2 | ||||||
| Sardinian Action Party | 1 | Sardinian Action Party | 1 | ||||||
| Independents – Non inscrits | 27 | Independents – Non inscrits | 17 | 10 | |||||
| Total seats | 343 | Total seats | 317 | 26 | |||||
| Senator | Motivation | Appointed by | From | Till | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrico De Nicola | Former President of Italy | ex officio | 12 May 1948 | ||
| Guido Castelnuovo | Merits in the scientific field | President Luigi Einaudi | 5 December 1949 | 27 April 1952 (deceased) | |
| Arturo Toscanini | Merits in the artistic field | President Luigi Einaudi | 5 December 1949 | 7 December 1949 (resigned) | |
| Pietro Canonica | Merits in the artistic field | President Luigi Einaudi | 1 December 1950 | ||
| Gaetano De Sanctis | Merits in the social and literary field | President Luigi Einaudi | 1 December 1950 | ||
| Pasquale Jannaccone | Merits in the social field | President Luigi Einaudi | 1 December 1950 | ||
| Carlo Alberto Salustri, known as "Trilussa" | Merits in the literary field | President Luigi Einaudi | 1 December 1950 | 21 December 1950 (deceased) | |
| Luigi Sturzo | Merits in the social field | President Luigi Einaudi | 17 September 1952 | ||
| Umberto Zanotti Bianco | Merits in the artistic and social field | President Luigi Einaudi | 17 September 1952 |