Pier Luigi Bersani was born on 29 September 1951 in Bettola, a mountain municipality in Nure Valley, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna region, Italy.

The Prodi II Cabinet assigned Bersani, as the Minister of Economic Development, the task of introducing reforms aimed at achieving increased market liberalization and competition.

[4] Since 7 November 2009, as decided by the National Assembly, Pier Luigi Bersani officially took office as Secretary of the Democratic Party of Italy.

Outgoing appointed-technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti's centrist party-coalition was at less than 15% of the vote and the protest Five-Star Movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo was getting more than 15%".

[7] In the general elections on 24–25 February 2013, as a consequence of the electoral system the PD-led centre-left coalition, Italy Common Good, took a small absolute majority in the lower house.

[9] On 27 March Bersani failed to strike a deal for forming a new Italian government with the grassroots Five-Star Movement (M5S) which held the balance of power after February's inconclusive elections.

[citation needed] On 19 April Bersani announced he would be stepping down from his post as Democratic Party leader after Romano Prodi failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the presidential election.