[7] Among the strongest supporters of the return to FI, the so-called "hawks"[8] and self-proclaimed "loyalists",[9] a leading role was played by Raffaele Fitto.

After months of bickering with Berlusconi over the so-called "Nazareno pact" with Matteo Renzi, leader of the Democratic Party and Prime Minister, in February 2015 Fitto launched his own faction, named "Rebuilders".

[13] Fitto's allies included Capezzone, Maurizio Bianconi, Rocco Palese, Saverio Romano, Cinzia Bonfrisco, Augusto Minzolini and most Apulian MPs.

[14] In the run-up of the 2015 regional elections Berlusconi and Fitto did not find an agreement on the composition of the slates in Apulia, where the party's two wings fielded two opposing candidates for president.

[29][30] CR's deputies and senators may soon join forces with Gaetano Quagliariello's Identity and Action (split from the New Centre-Right), an earlier FI's spin-off, and Flavio Tosi's Act!