The Italian League of The North Since 1979: Genesis And Prerequisites For Creation Of A Regionalist Actor

The paper examines the political life of contemporary Italy. The origins, political background, and political activities of the League of the North are examined by the author. The League of the North is a political party founded in 1979 by Umberto Bossi; the original aims of the League were stated as a regionalist aspiration to make the Italian north autonomy in order to develop it as an advanced region. The very name of the new political organisation carries a clear meaning, referring back to the times of the Italian Middle Ages: Umberto Bossi pointed to the symbolic link between the movement he led and the historical 'League', which began in April 1167, when the communes of northern Italy (Milan, Lodi, Cremona, Brescia, Bergamo, Piacenza, Parma, Bologna, Modena, Verona, Venice, Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, Mantua, and Ferrara) decided not to submit to the "despot" Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and united in the "Lombard "League", taking an alliance oath in the monastery of Pontida, where the historic meetings of the political movement are still held.