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Padania

GEOGRAPHICS

Padania is a geographic name of the valley formed by river Po (Padus in Latin IIRC), that is the most part of Northern Italy. Italy is divided into Regions: Padania is more or less composed of Lombardia (the Region where I live), Piemonte, Liguria, Veneto, Emilia (half of Region Emilia-Romagna).

POLITICS

I do not want to say about Padania the same thing that Metternich told about the whole Italy many years ago ("Italy is only a geographic name") but there are people who are excessively stressing the concept of Padania as a "nation" different from the Italian nation. Because of its history, Italy was really a collection of peoples with different cultures and even idioms but after the two World Wars Italian peoples became one nation, thanks to State schools and radio-television. This is our last 50 years history. Now a political party called "Lega Nord" is trying to separate Northern Italy from the rest. They talk about a "Northern nation" with its own culture and (first of all) economy. The northern part of Italy is much more rich than the southern one; maybe it is more "European" in the sense of efficency. The leaders of Lega Nord alternately use the words "secession" and "federalism": while "federalism" is a concept accepted by almost all the other parties (Italy is today a heavily centralized State), "secession" is of course illegal. IMHO most Northern Italian people do not want secession, but tehy want to contrl how our money is spent by the State, that is a federalistic taxation system.

VEXILLOLOGY

The flag of Lega Nord is a white flag with a red cross; over it a Medieval blue warrior. The flag (without the warrior) is the flag of Milano, the main city of Lombardia (even if the "capital of Padania" is Mantua, according Lega Nord), while the blue warrior is Alberto da Giussano, the leader of Lombardian revolt against the German Emperor. This flag is often fluttering together with the Venetian flag (a red and gold flag one with the St. Marc gold lion) to represent the "other" Padan people apart form Lombardians, that is Venetians.

BTW "LEGA NORD" is the federation of "LEGA LOMBARDA", "LIGA VENETA" and other regional movements of Northern Italy. As LEGA LOMBARDA is (was ?) the biggest of them, LEGA NORD uses its flag, with the only change of the name.
giuseppe bottasini 13-MAY-1996

Lega Piemontese

These are the flags of Lega Piemontese and Lega Ligure, other two components of Lega Nord. The Piemontese flag is quite obvious: a white cross on red field (Savoia) with an azure lambel.

Lega Ligure

giuseppe bottasini 24-JUN-1996