The rise of the Five Star Movement 2013–2018

The Five Star Movement was officially founded in 2009, but its roots lie in the preceding years: Beppe Grillo's blog, local meetups and the 2007 'V-Days', street demonstrations against the political class. The Genoese comedian and web entrepreneur Gianroberto Casaleggio built an unprecedented political actor, organised around the internet and a strongly anti-establishment language.

In the 2011 and 2012 local elections the Movement won its first mayors and growing visibility. But on the eve of the 2013 general election, no one imagined the scale of what was about to happen.

In the general election of 24-25 February 2013 the Five Star Movement obtained 25.6% of the vote in the Chamber: the single most-voted list of all. It narrowly overtook the Democratic Party (25.4%) and left far behind the People of Freedom (21.6%) and Mario Monti's Civic Choice (8.3%).

It was an earthquake. A movement on its first national test became Italy's largest party, capturing discontent over the economic crisis and the technocratic governments. The bipolarism built over twenty years suddenly turned into a three-pole system, ungovernable with the old coalition logic.

In 2013 the Movement refused all alliances and stayed in opposition: the stalemate led to the re-election of President Napolitano and a season of grand coalitions. But the refusal to 'contaminate' itself consolidated its anti-system support.

In the general election of 4 March 2018 the Five Star Movement became the largest party with around 33% of the vote in the Chamber, almost doubling its support compared to 2013. The result was driven above all by the South. A few months later the Movement entered government for the first time, forming the 'yellow-green' executive with Matteo Salvini's League.

Data note: detailed results for the 2018 election are not yet loaded in the ElectionLab database; the figures cited for 2018 are the official Interior Ministry result.

The rise of the Five Star Movement permanently changed Italy's political geography. It marked the end of bipolarism and the opening of a three-pole phase; it brought to government a force born outside the traditional parties; and it shifted the electoral centre of gravity towards the South, which in 2018 became the heart of Five Star support.

In the following years the Movement transformed again, losing votes and redefining its position. But the political system that emerged from 2013-2018 — fragmented, fluid, without a stable axis — is still the one in which Italians vote today.