In the last twenty years conditions favourable to populism in Europe have been created by a combination of two processes: a) the crisis of the mass parties and the transition from the «democracy of the parties» to the «democracy of the public»; b) the effects of globalizations, which have caused rapid changes in all national contexts, creating new problems and new social fractures, which have been difficult for the traditional parties to manage. In Italy populism has had more space and more influence than in other democratic countries because of the crisis and dissolution of the mass parties of the First Republic. Two kinds of populism established themselves in Italy. The first, the «regional populism» of the Northern League, which reacted to the potential fractures centre/fringes, North/South, and Italians/immigrants in a populist spirit. The second is the «media populism» of Berlusconi, who used the techniques of commercial marketing to bridge the distance between political leaders and citizens, and turned every election into a popular plebiscite around himself. only subscribers can see the full article