The birth, early history and explosive growth of the Five Star Movement

The rise of the movement led by Beppe Grillo was in the beginning extremely slow, as had happened in the case of Umberto Bossi’s Lega Nord. Despite the profound differences between their political programmes, both achieved electoral success thanks to two main issues: the crisis of the traditional parties and the strong reaction of the electorate against the so-called “casta”, the political class as a whole. In the early years, the MoVimento 5 Stelle (Five-star Movement, M5S) was chosen by two main types of voter: those with previous attachments to the left, disillusioned by the traditional parties belonging to that area, and those who were previously not interested in politics, now eager to participate directly in the policy-making process. After the electoral boom of the last couple of years, the actual composition of the M5S electorate has become more varied: the older types have more recently been joined by citizens with previous attachments with the right. In order to ensure that the movement endures, and to avoid a rapid end to their political adventure, M5S leaders must quickly learn to talk convincingly to the different souls that animate its support base