During Veltroni's leadership, leading members of the area were Goffredo Bettini, Giorgio Tonini and Enrico Morando.[1][2] Then there was a group of former Rutelliani, including notably Paolo Gentiloni and Ermete Realacci, who became very close to Veltroni and to his idea of Democratic Party.[3] In strict terms Veltroniani are generally progressives and modernizers, as opposed to Dalemiani who are more traditional social democrats.[4]
After the departure of Veltroni from party leadership in February 2009, Veltroniani talked about organizing their faction,[5][6] but finally there was a split between the staunch supporters of the new leader Dario Franceschini and those who soon started to criticize him. The first group includes mainly centrist figures, notably Tonini and Realacci, while the latter, mainly social democrats coming from the Italian Communist Party, led by Bettini and Michele Meta, launched a new faction, the Democrats in Network.[7][8]