The party emerged in 2009 as an Apulian split from National Alliance (AN) led by Adriana Poli Bortone, shortly before AN was merged into The People of Freedom (PdL).[1] Soon after the party approached to the Union of the Centre (UdC) in order to form a centrist party as an alternative to the PdL, and in this perspective Poli Bortone joined UdC in a common group in the Senate.[2]
At the 2009 provincial elections the party won 7.3% in Lecce (while Poli Bortone won 21.9% as candidate for President supported also by the UdC),[3] 3.4% in Taranto[4] and 2.0% in Brindisi.[5] In the 2010 Apulian regional election Poli Bortone ran for President supported also by the regional section of the Union of the Centre, that is the main component of UdC.[6] Poli Bortone gained 8.7% of the vote, while IS gained a mere 2.9%.[7]
Since then, Poli Bortone distanced herself from the UdC and started to prepare her return to the centre-right. In February 2011 she joined the new National Cohesion group in the Senate[2] and, as of March, she is headed to the formation of a joint "Party of the South" along with Force of the South and We the South.[8][9] On 14 July 2011 the three parties jointly launched the Federation of the South, later Great South.[10][11]
Although its base remains Apulia, the party has opened regional and provincial sections also in Basilicata, Campania and Calabria.[12]
