[6] Franceschini was a prominent member of the Italian People's Party (PPI), of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (DL), and the first Deputy Secretary of the PD.

[4][5] On 25 October 2009, he lost the 2009 PD leadership election to Pier Luigi Bersani, and subsequently accepted his offer to become the party's leader in the Chamber of Deputies.

Cattolici, socialisti e fascisti nella terra di Grosoli e Don Minzoni ("The Popular Party in Ferrara.

The official bulletin of the hospital will report later that the minister was suffering from an acute coronary syndrome treated positively and promptly.

He does not accept the decision of the party to stand independently - as a coalition of center - in the general election of 1994, in the Pact for Italy.

Following the birth of the Olive Tree coalition, Franceschini re-entered the Italian People's Party, and from 1997 to 1999 he was its Deputy Secretary and Coordinator.

[12][13] In the 2006 general election he was re-elected Deputy for the XI constituency of Emilia-Romagna and he was appointed Leader of the Olive Tree group in the Chamber.

On 21 February 2009, after the resignation of Walter Veltroni,[16] he was elected secretary of the Democratic Party in the National Assembly, with 1,047 votes out of 1,258.

[4][5] His first act after the election was to swear the oath on a copy of the Italian Constitution, in front of the castle of his native Ferrara, in the hands of his father Giorgio Franceschini, former partisan and former deputy.

[17] After of the primary elections of the Democratic Party of 25 October 2009, Franceschini was nominated secretary, along with Pier Luigi Bersani and Ignazio Marino.

Challenging the right over values Among the supporters of the candidacy of Franceschini there are Piero Fassino, Debora Serracchiani, Franco Marini, Marco Minniti, Giovanna Melandri, Tiziano Treu, Enrico Morando, Marina Sereni, Antonello Soro, Cesare Damiano, Pierluigi Castagnetti, Paolo Gentiloni, Sergio Cofferati, Rita Borsellino, Mario Adinolfi, David Sassoli.

He received support from many representatives from the world of culture and entertainment including Lorenzo Jovanotti, Nanni Moretti and Andrea Camilleri.

On 25 October 2009, in the primaries of the PD, Franceschini received over a million votes, representing 34% of the total, but was surpassed by Bersani, who then became the new secretary.

On 17 November, he was elected President of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives after Antonello Soro had resigned as deputy.

The key, reportedly worth around 12,000 euros, was presented by Pompei’s mayor, Carmine Lo Sapio, and later became the focus of a legal inquiry.

According to the Italian investigative program Le Iene, Sangiuliano suggested in a confidential document that the key might be in the possession of Maria Rosaria Boccia, who denies this claim.

However, the artisan who created the key publicly refuted such assumptions, stating that the item’s value was "evident to the naked eye".

The jeweller described the key as a finely crafted piece with embedded gemstones, including sapphires and rubies, making it unmistakable as a luxury item.

[19] In 2006 he published his first novel Nelle vene quell’acqua d’argento ("That silver water in the veins"), which in 2007 won the Premier Roman in France Chambéry and, in Italy, the Opera Prima Prize of the City of Penne, Bacchelli Award.