ABSTRACT
As Roberto Biorcio stressed, populism was ushered in by the end of a political era characterized by political hypermediation of an ideological system of limited pluralism, based on locally rooted political and social organizations, like trade unions and parties. The appearance of Silvio Berlusconi in January 1994 marked the true beginning of the Italian neo-populist phase. In terms of his communication style, from the very start, through a video message broadcast by the television channels owned by the businessman himself, Berlusconi adopted a very innovative neo-populist rhetoric, which has been described as telepopulism. From 2005 onwards, a civic, cross-cutting movement, characterized by strong anti-politics elements and started by comedian Beppe Grillo, began to emerge. It gradually became the third pole of Italian politics and the second one in terms of electoral consensus. In a long-term evaluation of the Italian political context, the appearance of Matteo Renzi, current leader of the Democratic Party, represents a further development in Italian contemporary neo-populism.
