Gianfranco Fini was the leader of AN from its foundation through 2008, after being elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. Fini was succeeded by Ignazio La Russa, who managed the merger of the party with Forza Italia (FI) into The People of Freedom (PdL) in 2009.[12] During AN's last congress, it was decided that a foundation would manage the assets and the political legacy of MSI/AN; as a result, the National Alliance Foundation was established in 2011.[13][14][15] A group of former AN members, led by La Russa and Giorgia Meloni, as well as former Christian DemocratGuido Crosetto, left the PdL in 2012 to launch the Brothers of Italy (FdI), while others remained in the PdL and were among the founding members of the re-launched Forza Italia (FI) in 2013. The National Alliance Foundation authorised FdI to use AN's symbol in 2014[16] and onwards.
^Tarchi, Marco (2007), "Recalcitrant Allies: The Conflicting Foreign Policy Agenda of the Alleanza Nazionale and the Lega Nord", Europe for the Europeans, Ashgate, p. 188
^Catellani, Patrizia; Milesi, Patrizia; Crescentini, Alberto (2006). "One Root, Different Branches: Identity, Injustice and Schisms". Extreme Right Activists in Europe: Through the Magnifying Glass. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN9780415358279. Yet this is not to say that the fascist heritage in the new 'post-fascist' AN faded altogether. At least at the beginning, Fini had a double standard of communication, one for inside the party, stressing continuity with fascism, one for outside the party, stressing change.
^Catellani, Patrizia; Milesi, Patrizia; Crescentini, Alberto (2006). One root, different branches: Identity, injustice and schisms. Routledge. p. 204. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)