The former minister

Marianna Madia leaves the PD and moves to Italia viva: with Renzi we strengthen the reformists

The former minister had become closer to Renzi by attending events organised by the former premier

by Rome Editorial Staff

4 May 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Pd deputy Marianna Madia leaves the party: she will join the Italia viva parliamentary group. The former minister of the Renzi and Gentiloni governments sent a message in the Dem reformists' chat: 'Friends, I try from another perspective to build a piece of the centre-left. Always united for the same goal: to free Italia from this bad government. I embrace you all'.

"Very capable Salis"

He explained the reasons for his choice to Repubblica.it: 'I am betting, not blindly but rationally, on the enlargement and strengthening of the centre-left in an area that will be decisive for the victory of the progressive coalition at the next political elections. It was Secretary Elly Schlein herself who first said that the PD alone is not enough: alliances are needed with all forces, civic as well as political, to offer an alternative project to the right. And so I go where the electoral clash will be determined: not in Italia viva, but in something bigger and different, where Matteo Renzi will certainly play an important role, but which will only be useful for the purpose if there are also others'.

Asked whether the leader of a new reformist rassemblement would be Silvia Salis Madia replied: 'That the mayor of Genoa is very capable there is no doubt, you can also see it from the way she is already dealing with her administrative experience. After that I don't know if she would want to. And on the other hand we must first understand who will join this project and to do what. However, I do have one certainty: our ideas, a convincedly reformist approach, will be decisive in strengthening the centre-left's proposal for government. In the end that is the only thing that really counts'.

Signs of malaise

At the beginning of April Madia, together with the other exponents of the reformist area (in fact the only minority current in the PD) Graziano Delrio and Giorgio Gori, had participated in the 'Primaries of Ideas', an event organised by Matteo Renzi for the construction of the programme in view of the policies. 'This initiative, which is not a party initiative,' Madia had said, 'offers a broad space for participation that must be attended. We need to go far beyond party boundaries, questioning memberships'.

There had been rumours of the deputy's discontent for some time, so much so that the hypothesis of her leaving the Dem party had already been circulated. A small case had broken out in March during the vote on the centre-left resolutions on the premier's communications on Iran and the EU Council. In the Senate, Action and Iv had drawn up a united resolution that had also been signed in Palazzo Madama by PD Senator Pier Ferdinando Casini and in the Chamber by Madia herself.

The MEP had also made herself the bearer of a somewhat dialoguing position with the majority. 'With guilty delay,' Madia pointed out, Giorgia Meloni opened up to the oppositions on foreign policy. I think, as Filippo Sensi said so well before me, that even if with extreme caution we must go and check'.

The focus on Renzi

But the former minister's presence at the Milan initiative organised in January by Renzi to launch the centrist project of a Margherita 4.0 had not gone unnoticed either.

The debut in politics thanks to Veltroni

Madia entered politics in 2008, at the age of 28, when she was chosen as the Pd's leading candidate in the Lazio 1 constituency by Walter Veltroni. "I did not know that my extraordinary inexperience was functional for this occasion": these were the words with which she introduced herself to journalists in the Dem headquarters the day after the announcement of her candidature.

Born in 1980, she graduated from French high school and graduated in Political Science in Rome with a thesis on labour economics. Over the years, Madia has worked with Arel, the research and legislation agency founded by Nino Andreatta and promoted by Enrico Letta, and then became a member of its steering committee. She was confirmed as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 2013 after gaining around 5,000 preferences in the Pd primaries.

Ministerial experience

Responsible for Labour in the secretariat of the Matteo Renzi-led party, she became Minister for Public Administration and Simplification in the first Renzi government. She was sworn in on 22 February, ascending to the Quirinale with her baby bump. After the executive fell, she was confirmed as Minister of Public Administration by Paolo Gentiloni on 12 December 2016. These are years in which she is in charge of reforming the P.a., with the aim of simplifying procedures, digitising, reorganising subsidiaries and modernising public employment. Among the best known measures are those related to accelerated procedures and sanctions against 'card cheats'.

After leaving his role in the government, in the following years he continued his commitment in Parliament: he was often at the centre of controversies with his colleagues in the party (at the congress won by Elly Schlein he supported Bonaccini) and in recent years within the party he positioned himself in the reformist area, contesting on several occasions his choices on labour issues.

Lately, he has been very concerned with social media and minors, waging a cross-party battle for a minimum age for access to platforms.