After the Mani Pulite investigations resulted in the disbandment of the previous ruling parties (first of all, Democrazia Cristiana), Di Pietro was called into Romano Prodi's new governing team as minister for Public Works, with responsibility for the areas most affected by bribery—all the initiatives financed by the state. Here he tried to impose a controversial project which would have doubled the main national motorway between Bologna and Florence. It provoked violent opposition by inhabitants of the interested areas. Ecologists, who had supported Prodi's coalition, protested the plan, which would have destroyed Apennine valleys and woods.