In September 2010, after years of weighting, Gianfranco Micciché, long-time leader of Forza Italia and, later, The People of Freedom (PdL) in Sicily and Under-Secretary in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet, announced his exit from the PdL and his intention to launch a "Sicilian people's party", which would have then merged with other southern "people's parties" to form the "Party of the South".[1] In October 2010 Force of the South was launched.[2][3] Only five out of 16 regional deputies of the PdL–Sicily, the faction of the PdL led by Micciché, followed their leader into the new party.[4]
On 14 July 2011 FdS launched, along with We the South and I the South, the Federation of the South, later Great South, a coalition which aimed at becoming the party of the South.[12][13] In January 2012 FdS formed a sub-group in the Mixed Group of the Chamber of Deputies, which included the seven FdS deputies and two new entries (Aurelio Misiti, a former member of Italy of Values who was appointed chairman, and Gerardo Soglia, from the PdL), but not the three deputies of NS.[7][14][15]
In October 2012, the balance of accounts of the People of Freedom showed that the Force of the South had received €300,000 of financial support from PdL.[16]