Italian league movement

The parties were opposed to the centralized tax policy, political system and the corruption. Eventually, the movement became an anti-system party against partitocrazia.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-Yu8WG2A3sC&pg=PA75|lang=de|pages=74–76|first=Damian|last=Grasmück|title=Das Parteiensystem Italiens im Wandel: die politischen Parteien und Bewegungen seit Anfang der neunziger Jahre unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Forza Italia|publisher=Tectum Verlag DE|year=2000|isbn=9783828881839}} In its early years, the leagues supported Eurofederalism allying themselves with the {{ill|European Federalist Party (1974)|lt=European Federalist Party|de|Europäische Föderalistische Partei (historisch)}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfhADgAAQBAJ&dq=Lista+per+Trieste+lega+regionalist&pg=PT70|first=Margarita|last=Gómez-Reino Cachafeiro|title=Ethnicity and Nationalism in Italian Politics: Inventing the Padania: Lega Nord and the Northern Question|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=9781351938891}} before moving towards euroscepticism. The movement believed that Northern Italy subsidized the poorer South through taxes. Lega Nord's position towards the South was even compared to racism. While Lega Nord joined the Centre-right coalition, other parties joined the Centre-left coalition or remained independent.

{{main|Padanian nationalism}}

Umberto Bossi's Liga Veneta was the first league to be founded in the 1970s.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7HOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PR12|pages=XIV|first=Roy P.|last=Domenico|title=The Regions of Italy: A Reference Guide to History and Culture|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|year=2001|isbn=978-0-313-01650-9 }} It was inspired by and cooperated with other regionalist parties like the Ossolan Union for Autonomy (UOPA) formed in 1977 (which merged into Lega) and the two older regionalist movements Valdostan Union (UV) and Friuli Movement.{{cite web|url=http://ossola24.it/index.php/11967-quarant-anni-fa-nasceva-l-uopa-l-unione-ossolana-per-l-autonomia|title= Quarant'anni fa nasceva l'Uopa, l'Unione Ossolana Per l'Autonomia |lang=it|work=ossola24.it|date=27 October 2017}} Both Bossi and UOPA ran on UV's {{ill|Federalismo|it|Federalismo (lista elettorale)}} list in the 1979 European Parliament election.{{cite web|url=https://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2018/04/le-radici-dellautonomismo-cercatele-in.html|title= Le radici dell'autonomismo? Cercatele in Val d'Ossola |first=Gabriele|last=Maestri|date=12 April 2018|lang=it|work=isimbolidelladiscordia.it}} During the 1980s, leagues like the List for Trieste (1983) and Liga Veneta (1984) lent their symbols to other leagues allowing them to compete in elections. In 1989, Lega Lombarda, Liga Veneta, Piemont Autonomista, Union Ligure, Lega Emiliano-Romagnola and the Alleanza Toscana ran on the Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord list. In 1991, the Lega Nord was established as a national federation of these leagues. After Lega Nord left the Berlusconi government, a small group split of to found the Federalist Party alongside the Federalist Italian League and the Federalists and Liberal Democrats. They returned to the Centre-right coalition in 2001. Under Matteo Salvini, Lega Nord rebranded as a nation-wide right-wing populist political party.{{cite web|url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/parteien/rechtspopulismus/241034/die-lega-nord-in-italien/|title=Die Lega Nord in Italien |lang=De|first=Jan-Christoph|last=Kitzler|work=Federal Agency for Civic Education|date=18 January 2017}}

For the 1992 general election, 71 symbols for "leagues" were submitted. Leagues which ran included an alliance between Lega Nuova of {{ill|Pier Gianni Prosperini|it}} and Italian Democratic Socialist Party, Piemont Liber{{cite web|url=https://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2020/07/1992-gremmo-porta-la-lega-alpina.html|title=1992, Gremmo porta la Lega alpina lumbarda in Senato (con De Paoli)|first=Gabriele|last=Maestri|date=12 July 2020|lang=it|work=isimbolidelladiscordia.it}} and the Housewives Pensioners League (which included former members of Autonomist Greens, Pensioners' Party and the earlier Lega Ligure).{{cite web|url=https://www.isimbolidelladiscordia.it/2020/05/1992-alla-lega-casalinghe-pensionati.html|title= 1992: alla Lega Casalinghe-Pensionati non bastano i voti di De Jorio |first=Gabriele|last=Maestri|date=26 May 2020|lang=it|work=isimbolidelladiscordia.it}} Lega Nord saw these minor lists as spoiler parties.

In 1989, Umberto Bossi brother-in-law split from Liga Veneta and founded the Alleanza Lombarda Autonomia (ALA).{{cite web|url=http://espresso.repubblica.it/palazzo/2011/10/31/news/i-bossi-questione-di-famiglia-1.36987 |title=I Bossi, questione di famiglia|date=31 October 2011 |publisher=espresso.repubblica.it|accessdate=2015-02-10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140528215438/http://espresso.repubblica.it/palazzo/2011/10/31/news/i-bossi-questione-di-famiglia-1.36987|archive-date=2014-05-28}} By 1996, the Lega Alpina Lumbarda (which won a seat in 1992), Piedmontese Union, Valdostan Autonomist Union and ALA merged into Lega per l'Autonomia – Alleanza Lombarda (LAL). Lega Autonomia Veneta, Lega Autonomia Friuli and Lega Autonomia Trentino founded in 1993 the Lega delle Regioni{{cite web | url=https://patrimonio.archivio.senato.it/inventario/scheda/mario-rigo/IT-SEN-085-000120/statuti-ed-evoluzione-politica-iniziativa-civica | title=Statuti ed evoluzione politica di Iniziativa Civica - Patrimonio dell'Archivio storico Senato della Repubblica |lang=it}} and later the North-East Movement. Another more long-lived competitor, Liga Veneta Repubblica (LVR) was established in 1998. None of these ever gained major success but both the LAL (0.12%) and the LVR (0.06%) were crucial for the victory of The Union over the House of Freedoms backed by Lega Nord in the 2006 general election.{{cite web|url=https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=09/04/2006&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A|title=Camera 09/04/2006 Area ITALIA (escl. Valle d'Aosta)|publisher=elezionistorico.interno.it|accessdate=2025-05-02|lang=it}}

In the autonomous regions Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Aosta Valley, the South Tyrolean People's Party and Union Valdotaine were already active{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s3Lvycoqtt0C&pg=RA1-PA2000|first=Guy|last=Puzey|title=Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape|chapter=Two-Way Traffic: How Linguistic Landscapes Reflect and Influence the Politics of Language|publisher=Springer|year=2011|isbn=9780230360235}} limiting their success there. In the 1990s, LVR and the Lega delle Regioni joined the wider {{ill|Federalismo|it|Federalismo (lista elettorale)}} coalition. In the late 2000s and early 2010s Lega Nord allied with UV's Aosta Valley coalition and sometimes South Tyrolean Die Freiheitlichen.

As a reaction to Lega Nord's hostile stance towards Southern Italy Neo-Bourbonism was reawakened.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSx0TYbayYYC&pg=PA351|page=351|first=Enrico|last=Dal Lago|title=Agrarian Elites: American Slaveholders and Southern Italian Landowners, 1815–1861|publisher=LSU Press|year=2005|isbn=9780807130872}} Former members of the Italian Social Movement founded the Southern Action League and the {{ill|League of Leagues|it|Lega Meridionale}}.{{cite news|author=Walter G. Pozzi|work=Paginauno|title=Il romanzo mai scritto sugli anni Novanta (parte 5/5). Fallimento delle Leghe del sud e appoggio a Forza Italia|url=http://www.rivistapaginauno.it/Romanzo-mai-scritto-anni-novanta5.php|access-date=29 March 2018|archive-date=30 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330012249/http://www.rivistapaginauno.it/Romanzo-mai-scritto-anni-novanta5.php|url-status=dead|lang=it}} Nevertheless, Lega Nord tried to gain a foothold in the South. In the mid-1990s, LN ran as {{ill|Lega Italia Federale|it|Lega Italia Federale}} in Central and Southern Italy, they founded the Lega Sud Ausonia which distanced from the Lega Nord in the early 2000s and the Federalist Alliance as its replacement in 2003. Us with Salvini in 2014 was the last attempt in forming a Southern sister-party. Only when Lega Nord transformed into Lega in 2018, Lega was able to establish itself in Southern Italy, South Tyrol and the Aosta Valley.

Outside of Italy, the leagues inspired the Ticino League in Switzerland{{cite web|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/politik/der-fulminante-aufstieg-einer-anti-europaeischen-regionalbewegung/41940704|title=Der fulminante Aufstieg einer anti-europäischen Regionalbewegung|lang=de-CH|date=12 February 2016|first=Gerhard|last=Lob|work=SWI swissinfo}} and the Popular Alliance in San Marino.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5PlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1062|page=[https://archive.org/details/statesmansyearbo0000turn/page/1062 1062]|title=The Stateman's Yearbook 2014: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World|chapter=San Marino|year=2013 |editor-last=Turner|editor-first=Barry|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-349-59643-0|issn=0081-4601|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-59643-0|editor-link=Barry Turner (author)|url=https://archive.org/details/statesmansyearbo0000turn/page/1062}} The Savoyan League had some success in the 1998 regional elections outperforming the older Savoy Region Movement{{cite book|author1=Daniele Caramani|author2=Yves Mény|title=Challenges to Consensual Politics: Democracy, Identity, and Populist Protest in the Alpine Region|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rwofe0Zg8MQC&pg=PA64|year=2005|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-90-5201-250-6|pages=64, 89}} but it could not run again when parties had to put list in any department of a region.{{cite news|first=Patrick-Alain|last=Bertoni|url=http://www.pour-la-savoie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2012.10.21-LS-LE-POISON-DE-LA-DIVISION.pdf|title=Ligue savoisienne, congrès du Bois : "Le poison de la division" rendu responsable de sa soustraction du paysage politique|work=Le Faucigny|date=1 November 2012|archive-url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pour-la-savoie.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F01%2F2012.10.21-LS-LE-POISON-DE-LA-DIVISION.pdf%2Findex.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url|archive-date=19 November 2021}} In 2010, Jacques Bompard founded the League of the South which was inspired by Lega Nord.{{Cite news|last=Mestre|first=Abel|date=19 June 2012|title=L'ex-FN Jacques Bompard retrouve l'Assemblée nationale|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2012/06/19/l-ex-fn-jacques-bompard-retrouve-l-assemblee-nationale_1721259_823448.html|website=Le Monde}} Similarly to the Popular Alliance and Lega Sud, Greeks for the Fatherland (founded in 2020) adopted a logo inspired by Lega's Monument to the Warrior of Legnano with a statue of Leonidas I but the party was de facto neofascist and acted as a replacement for Golden Dawn.{{Cite web |title=In Greece, a new far right movement is taking the stage |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/countering-radical-right/greece-new-far-right-movement-taking-stage/ |access-date=2 May 2025 |website=openDemocracy |date=20 August 2020 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title="Greeks for the Fatherland": Ilias Kasidiaris and Greece's New Far-Right Party |url=https://www.foiaresearch.net/article/greeks-fatherland-ilias-kasidiaris-and-greeces-new-far-right-party |access-date=2 May 2025 |website=FOIA Research |date=5 September 2020 |language=en-US}}

{{reflist}}

Category:1980s in Italy

Category:1990s in Italy

Category:Federalism in Italy

*

Category:Political movements in Italy