The persistent process of personalization of politics has overshadowed the party organizations, shifting the attention on leaders and candidates and marking the transition from a “democracy of the parties” to a “democracy of the public”; as neo-populism or media populism. Thus, what has long been considered a characteristic of presidential systems, the personalization, made its entrance even in parliamentary democracies, characterized as a dominant variable in a new way of doing politics. The construction of the image of the leader becomes central. He guides and gives identity to the party, a man whose face, character and integrity become the symbol of the party he represents. Therefore, a greater prominence is given to the politician while, in parallel, the party organization gradually fades: it survives because it is “the party of the leader”. Starting from a change that is common to the European democracies, this paper analyzes the consolidation of a personal politic in Italy, which saw the transition from a collegiate structure of the First Republic to personalistic organization of political parties, characterized by the emergence of a leader with great appeal and strong communication skills. The paper analyzes the transformation of the Italian political parties - with the emergence of strong charismatic leaders that make an extensive use of media as tools for acquiring consent - to see if the future of politics and parties is just personal or otherwise there are developing new strains to the development of institutional parties, which give centrality to the role of the State.
