The Legislature I of Italy () was the 1st legislature of the Italian Republic, and lasted from 8 May 1948 until 24 June 1953. Its composition was the one resulting from the general election of 18 April 1948.

Main chronology In the 1948 Italian general election, the Christian Democracy (DC) party 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.Library of Nations: Italy, Time-Life Books, 1985 The main laws approved by the Parliament included:

Law 28 February 1949, n. 43 – "Measures to increase workers' employment, facilitating the construction of houses for workers". The law, also known as Fanfani house program, was promoted by the Minister of Labour Amintore Fanfani and launched a seven-year plan for popular housing to increase the stock of economic housing by means of construction or purchase of economic accommodation. The law also established a special housing fund, the so-called "INA-Casa", within the National Institute for Insurance. Law 10 August 1950, n. 646 – "Establishment of the Fund for extraordinary works of public interest in Southern Italy". The law established the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno (Fund for the South) to encourage the development of public works and infrastructure (roads, bridges, hydroelectric and irrigation) projects, and to provide credit subsidies and tax advantages to promote investments in the poor and mainly agricultural regions of Southern Italy. Law 21 October 1950, n. 841 – "Rules for expropriation, reclamation, transformation and assignment of land to peasants", also known as the "Agrarian Reform". The law promoted the redistribution of lands to peasants in the poorer rural regions and the formation of agricultural cooperatives. Law 24 February 1951, n. 84 – "Rules for the election of municipal councils". The reform changed the electoral law used for the election of the municipal councils, introducing a block voting system and abolishing the proportional representation. Law 31 March 1953, n. 87 – "Amendments to the law for the election of the Chamber of Deputies", also known as Scam Law.

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,Also its parliamentarian exam had a disruptive effect: "Among the iron pots of political forces that faced in the Cold War, Senate cracked as earthenware pot": including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificial landslide to the DC.

Presidential election 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.

Government Prime MinisterParty Term of office GovernmentComposition Took office Left office Alcide De GasperiChristian Democracy 23 May 1948 27 January 1950De Gasperi VDC • PSLI • PLI • PRI 27 January 1950 26 July 1951De Gasperi VIDC • PSLI • PRI 26 July 1951 16 July 1953De Gasperi VIIDC • PRI

De Gasperi V Cabinet 16 June–2 July 1948Investiture votes for De Gasperi V CabinetHouse of ParliamentVotePartiesVotesChamber of Deputies Yes DC, PSLI, PLI, PRI No FDP, MSI, PNM Senate of the Republic Yes DC, PSLI, PLI, PRI No PCI, PSI, MSI, PNM Abstention Others

De Gasperi VI Cabinet 14 February–1 March 1950Investiture votes for De Gasperi VI CabinetHouse of ParliamentVotePartiesVotesChamber of Deputies Yes DC, PSLI, PRI No PCI, PSI, PLI, MSI, PNM Senate of the Republic Yes DC, PSLI, PRI No PCI, PSI, PLI, MSI, PNM Abstention Others

De Gasperi VII Cabinet 8–9 August 1951Investiture votes for De Gasperi VII CabinetHouse of ParliamentVotePartiesVotesSenate of the Republic Yes DC, PRI No PCI, PSI, PSLI, PLI, MSI, PNM Abstention Others Chamber of Deputies Yes DC, PRI No PCI, PSI, PSLI, PLI, MSI, PNM

Parliamentary composition Chamber of Deputies

President: Giovanni Gronchi (DC), elected on 8 May 1948 Vice Presidents: Giuseppe Fruschini (DC, until 10 July 1949), Gaetano Martino (PLI), Giuseppe Chiostergi (PRI), Ferdinando Targetti (PSI, until 21 January 1953)

+Initial composition(8 May 1948)Final composition(24 June 1953)Parliamentary groupSeatsParliamentary groupSeatsChange Christian Democracy 305 Christian Democracy 300 5 Popular Democratic Front183 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 Volkspartei3 Südtiroler Volkspartei3 Peasants' Party of Italy1 Peasants' Party of Italy1 Sardinian Action Party1 Sardinian Action Party1 Independents – Non inscrits11 11Total seats 574Total seats 574

Senate of the Republic

Presidents: Ivanoe Bonomi (PSLI), elected on 8 May 1948 and resigned on 20 April 1951; Enrico De Nicola (PLI), elected on 28 April 1951 and resigned on 24 June 1952; Giuseppe Paratore (PLI), elected on 26 June 1952 and resigned on 23 March 1953; Meuccio Ruini (Ind), elected on 25 March 1953. Vice Presidents: Antonio Alberti (DC, until 16 March 1953), Salvatore Aldisio (DC, until 26 January 1950), Mauro Scoccimarro (PCI), Enrico Molé (US), Adone Zoli (DC, from 3 March 1950 to 25 July 1951), Giovanni Battista Bertone (DC, from 10 August 1951), Umberto Tupini (DC, from 17 March 1953)

+Initial composition(8 May 1948)Final composition(24 June 1953)Parliamentary groupSeatsParliamentary groupSeatsChange 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 Volkspartei2 Südtiroler Volkspartei2 Sardinian Action Party1 Sardinian Action Party1 Independents – Non inscrits27 Independents – Non inscrits17 10Total seats 343Total seats 317 26

Senators for Life Senator Motivation Appointed by From TillEnrico De NicolaFormer President of Italy ex officio12 May 1948Guido CastelnuovoMerits in the scientific fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi5 December 194927 April 1952 (deceased)Arturo ToscaniniMerits in the artistic fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi5 December 19497 December 1949 (resigned)Pietro CanonicaMerits in the artistic fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi1 December 1950Gaetano De SanctisMerits in the social and literary field President Luigi Einaudi1 December 1950Pasquale JannacconeMerits in the social fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi1 December 1950Carlo Alberto Salustri, known as "Trilussa"Merits in the literary fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi1 December 195021 December 1950 (deceased)Luigi SturzoMerits in the social fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi17 September 1952Umberto Zanotti BiancoMerits in the artistic and social fieldPresident Luigi Einaudi17 September 1952

Gallery

References