Its leader was Corrado Passera, a former manager (Mondadori, Espresso, Olivetti, Poste), banker (Intesa/Intesa Sanpaolo), supporter of the centre-left Olive Tree coalition and minister of Economic Development in Monti Cabinet (2011–2013).

[7][8] Pino Bicchielli (former member of the national board of Alliance for Italy–ApI and former coordinator of Democratic Centre–CD) and Marco Calgaro (a former MP of DL and the Union of the Centre–UdC) joined IU by September.

[9][10] Among the others who joined later, it is worth mentioning Maria Ida Germontani (a former member of Lega Nord–LN and senator of National Alliance–AN).

[11] Since November 2015 IU was represented by Guglielmo Vaccaro, elected with the PD and formerly a close affiliate of Enrico Letta, in the Chamber of Deputies and by Gaetano Quagliariello, elected with the PdL, passed through the New Centre-Right (NCD) and now leader of Identity and Action (IdeA), which allowed membership to other parties through the so-called "double membership", in the Senate.

[12][13][14][15] Passera was supposed to run for mayor in the 2016 municipal election in Milan, but eventually decided to endorse Stefano Parisi, the joint centre-right candidate supported by the LN, FI, the NCD and the UdC.