Background The origins of Lombard identity and
Lombard nationalism can be traced in the
Duchy of Milan, the
Five Days of Milan and the
federalist thought of
Carlo Cattaneo, even though the Lombard sentiment was often intertwined with
Italian nationalism, especially during the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia under the
Austrian Empire. Anti-Rome and anti-Italian sentiments grew after
World War II. In 1947
Giulio Bergmann, who would later serve as senator for the
Italian Republican Party, launched the Movement for Local Autonomies in the
province of Bergamo. In 1956
Guido Calderoli established the
Bergamasque Autonomist Movement, which later evolved in the Autonomist Lombard Regional Movement and the Autonomist Padanian Regional Movement, before re-joining
Christian Democracy. Calderoli would later form a short-lived Lega Lombarda and the Union of Autonomists of Italy, which obtained 0.06% of the vote in the
1970 regional election.
Bossi, foundation and early years In the late 1970s
Umberto Bossi, a former activist of the
Italian Communist Party, emerged as the leading figure of Lombard nationalism. Through contacts with regional nationalist movements and parties, like the
Valdostan Union (party leader
Bruno Salvadori, who died in a car accident in 1980, was a close friend), the
Ossolan Union for Autonomy, the
List for Trieste and finally
Liga Veneta (LV), Bossi learned about federalism and autonomism. Consequently, he started a series of publications and organisations, notably the Lombard North-Western Union for Autonomy, along with his brother Franco and
Roberto Maroni, an activist of
Proletarian Democracy. In the
1983 general election Bossi, along with future regional councillor
Roberto Bernardelli, stood as candidate for the List of Trieste, with little success, especially if compared with the LV, which obtained one elect to the
Chamber of Deputies and one to the
Senate, and would have elects also in the
1985 regional election. On 12 April 1984 the
Lega Autonomista Lombarda (Lombard Autonomist League, LAL) was officially established by Bossi, who used the resonance of the name of the historical
Lega Lombarda when choosing the name,
Giuseppe Leoni, Manuela Marrone (Bossi's future wife), Pierangelo Brivio (Marrone's brother-in-law), Marino Moroni and Emilio Sogliaghi, but not Maroni who had taken a hiatus from politics and would return in 1989. In the
1984 European Parliament election, the LL joined forces with the LV, the
Trentino Tyrolean People's Party, the
Piedmontese Union and other minor parties, obtaining 0.5% of the vote countrywide and 0.7% in the
province of Varese (the LV was stronger than the LL at the time). In the
1985 regional election the LL won 0.5% of the vote. In 1986 the party took the current name. In the
1987 general election, the LL gained 2.6% of the vote in
Lombardy: Bossi was elected to the
Senate and Leoni to the
Chamber of Deputies.
Transition to Lega Nord The party participated in the
1989 European Parliament election as the leading member of the coalition named
Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord (LL–AN), which included other five regional parties: the LV,
Autonomist Piedmont,
Ligurian Union,
Emilia-Romagna League and
Tuscan Alliance. In Lombardy the list obtained 8.1% in Lombardy and two
MEPs,
Francesco Speroni and
Luigi Moretti. In 1989–1990 the LL took part in the process of federating the northern regionalist parties, ahead of the
regional elections. The LL was the most voted among the new regional parties, with 18.9% of the vote in the
1990 Lombard regional election (the LV was riven in internal conflicts at the time and especially suffered the competition of Green lists and the
Union of the Venetian People). In February 1991 the LL finally was merged with the five parties of the LL–AN alliance and newly-formed parties in the northern autonomous regions and provinces (the future
Lega Vallée d'Aoste,
Lega Alto Adige Südtirol,
Lega Trentino,
Lega Friuli and
Lega Trieste) into
Lega Nord (LN). Since then, the LL has been the "national" section of the LN in Lombardy. Bossi was subsequently elected federal secretary of the LN, while maintaining the role of national secretary of the LL for a while. In the
1992 general election the LN obtained 8.7% of the vote countrywide, of which 23.0% in Lombardy, and dozens of LL members were elected to the Chamber and Senate.
Negri, Calderoli, Giorgetti In 1993
Luigi Negri took over as secretary, replacing Bossi, who had to choose between national and federal office. After the
1994 general election, in which the LN ran within
Silvio Berlusconi's
Pole of Freedoms coalition, three LL members joined Berlusconi's
government as ministers: Maroni (the party's recognised number two),
Vito Gnutti and Speroni. In December, Bossi chose to leave the government over pension reform. The break-up of the coalition supporting the government and its replacement by
Lamberto Dini's "technocratic"
government, thanks to the LN's support, led Negri and others to defect to the
Federalist Italian League or the
Federalists and Liberal Democrats, while Maroni, despite disagreements with Bossi, chose to stay in the party and was warmly re-welcomed by Bossi. Negri was replaced as secretary by
Roberto Calderoli, grandnewphew of Guido Calderoli, who, as president, had evicted him from the party, despite being his brother-in-law. Calderoli led the party to its best result up to that point in the
1996 general election, when it gained 25.5%. After the
2000 regional election, the party joined the regional government and has since been a member of it, with no exceptions. After the
2001 general election, three LL members joined Berlusconi's
government as ministers: Bossi (who would later have health problems and be replaced by Calderoli), Maroni and
Roberto Castelli. In 2002 Calderoli was replaced by
Giancarlo Giorgetti, while Castelli became president. In the
2010 regional election the party gained 26.2%, its best result so far.
Leadership of Salvini In 2012 Giorgetti decided to step down from national secretary and the party elected its new leadership at a congress in June.
Matteo Salvini ran as candidate of the faction around
Roberto Maroni, while
Cesarino Monti, a former mayor and senator, was the candidate of the old guard and of Bossi's loyalists. Salvini won the election with 74% of the votes, that is to say the support of 403 delegates out of 532. Soon after, Giorgetti was appointed national president. In July 2012 Maroni was elected federal secretary of the LN by its federal congress. The Lombard delegates elected six members to the federal council:
Giacomo Stucchi,
Paolo Grimoldi,
Andrea Mascetti,
Gianni Fava,
Simona Bordonali, and, on behalf of the minority,
Marco Desiderati. In the
2013 regional election Maroni was elected
President of Lombardy with 42.8% of the vote and the party won 23.2% (combined result of party list and Maroni's personal list).
Leadership of Grimoldi In November 2013 Salvini succeeded to Maroni as Lega Nord's federal secretary and, later on, he appointed a commissioner,
Stefano Borghesi, to fill the post. Borghesi was later replaced by Grimoldi. In November 2015 Grimoldi was elected national secretary of the party. In May 2017, after Salvini's re-election as LN federal secretary, five LL members (Bordonali,
Fabrizio Cecchetti,
Giulio De Capitani,
Simona Pergreffi and
Jacopo Vignati) were elected to the federal council with Salvini, a sixth (Giorgetti) was elected as an independent and a seventh (Gianni Fava) on behalf of the minority. In December Stucchi was elected president of LL, replacing Giorgetti, who whose more and more involved at the federal level as deputy of Salvini. In the
2018 regional election LL's
Attilio Fontana was elected President of Lombardy with 49.8% of the vote and the party obtained 29.4%. Contextually, in the
2018 general election the party won 28.0% of the vote and Salvini, as deputy prime minister and minister of the Interior, plus other two LL members would serve in
Giuseppe Conte's
first government until September 2019. In 2021 the party would join
Mario Draghi's
government with two LL members, Giorgetti as minister of Economic Development and
Massimo Garavaglia as minister of Tourism.
Re-foundation Following the formation of
Lega per Salvini Premier and the 2019 federal congress of the LN, after which the latter became practically inactive, in February 2020 the LL was re-established as
Lega Lombarda per Salvini Premier in order to become the regional section of the new party. The founding members of the new LL were Attilio Fontana, Paolo Grimoldi,
Daniele Belotti, Stefano Borghesi, Fabrizio Cecchetti e
Gian Marco Centinaio. Grimoldi continued to led the party through 2020. In February 2021 Cecchetti replaced Grimoldi as pro-tempore coordinator. Grimoldi would become a frequent critic of the political line of the federal party, perceived to be too Rome-centric. After the disappointing result
2022 general election, in which the party was reduced to 13.3% of the vote in Lombardy, some leading members of the party's traditional wing, rooted in Padanian nationalism, formed
Comitato Nord (, CN). The committee was inspired by Umberto Bossi and, under the leadership of Grimoldi and
Angelo Ciocca, it attracted more than one thousand members in a couple of months. The inaugural event of the committee, held in early December, was attended by some 600 people, including former ministers
Roberto Castelli and
Francesco Speroni. Contextually, provincial congresses were held in some of the party's strongholds: critics of Salvini affiliated with the CN narrowly won in
Bergamo and
Brescia, while the pro-Salvini wing retained
Varese for a handful of votes. In November 2023, Castelli started his own
People's Party of the North. In the meantime, the party joined
Giorgia Meloni's
government with five LL ministers, including Salvini as deputy prime minister and minister of Infrastructure and Transport and Giorgetti as minister of Economy and Finance. A few months later, in the
2023 regional election, Fontana was re-elected with 54.6% of the vote, but the party won 22.7% (combined result of party list and Fontana's personal list), coming second to
Brothers of Italy (FdI), which thus obtained a large share of the regional government and one of its members at the head of the
Regional Council. Right after the
2024 European Parliament election, long-time internal critic Grimoldi was ejected from the party; he would later organise his own platform,
Pact for the North.
Leadership of Romeo In the run-up of the party's December 2024 congress, the first after nine years, three candidates put forward their bid to become regional secretary:
Massimiliano Romeo, leader of the federal party in the Senate, representing most of the rank-and-file;
Luca Toccalini, leader of
Lega Giovani, representing Salvini's loyalists;
Cristian Invernizzi, former deputy, representing the more traditional base. When, especially after Invernizzi's retirement, it was clear that Romeo was going to win big, also Toccalini withdrew from the race. Romeo was thus elected unopposed. In his victory speech, he reclaimed the party's northern identity, while president of Lombardy Fontana spoke of "free Padania". ==Popular support==