Background The
Lega Nord (LN) was established in 1989 as a federation of six regional parties from
northern and north-
central Italy (
Liga Veneta,
Lega Lombarda,
Piemont Autonomista,
Uniun Ligure,
Lega Emiliano-Romagnola and
Alleanza Toscana), which became the party's founding "national" sections in 1991. Salvini led the LN through dramatic changes, first by re-orienting it toward the European nationalist right. In the run-up of the
2014 European Parliament election, Salvini formed an alliance with the French
National Front led by
Marine Le Pen, the Dutch
Party for Freedom led by
Geert Wilders and other alike parties on the issues of Euroscepticism,
opposition to immigration and
sovereigntism, leading to the establishment of the
Identity and Democracy Party (ID Party). The League also started a brief co-operation with
CasaPound, a
far-right organisation. In December 2014 Salvini launched
Us with Salvini (, NcS), with goal of putting forward LN's issues in
central and
southern Italy and expanding the party's electorate.
Road to the new party during the final rally of the
2018 electoral campaign in Milan In the
2017 leadership election, Salvini was confirmed as LN's leader, defeating
Gianni Fava, from the party's traditionalist wing. The May 2017 federal congress marked the "national" turnaround. In October 2017, Salvini announced that in the
2018 Italian general election the party would be re-branded simply as "Lega" and would field lists also in central-southern Italy. On 14 December 2017, the "Lega per Salvini Premier" party was established by long-time LN member
Roberto Calderoli and its constitution was published in the
Gazzetta Ufficiale. LSP's official goals were the transformation of Italy "into a modern federal state through democratic and electoral methods" and the support of "the freedom and sovereignty of peoples at the European level". LSP's symbol was inspired by
Donald Trump's campaign for the
2016 Republican Party presidential primaries in the United States: a blue rectangle with the words "Lega per Salvini Premier" in white, surrounded by a thin white frame. A week later, Salvini presented the new electoral logo: the word "Nord", and the
Sun of the Alps were removed, while the word "Lega" and the representation of
Alberto da Giussano remained, and the slogan "Salvini Premier" was added. In the 2018 general election, the League gained its best-so-far result of 17.4% of the vote, becoming the largest party within the centre-right coalition and establishing itself as the country's third largest political force. After the election, the party formed an alliance with the populist
Five Star Movement (M5S), which had come first in the election with 32.7% of the vote. The "
yellow-green government" was led by
Giuseppe Conte, an independent jurist close to the M5S, and included Salvini as
minister of the Interior. Since the government's formation, thanks to Salvini's approval as minister, the party was regularly the country's largest party in
opinion polls, at around or over 30%. In the
2019 European Parliament election in Italy, the League won 34.3% of the vote, winning for the first time a plurality of the electorate, while the M5S stopped at 17.1%. In August 2019, Salvini announced his intention to leave the coalition with the M5S, and called for a snap general election. , and
Giancarlo Giorgetti at the
Quirinal Palace after the 2018 election After successful talks between the M5S and the
Democratic Party (PD), the incumbent government was eventually replaced by the
second Conte government. The League thus returned to the opposition, together with its electoral allies of the centre-right coalition. During 2019, along with the LN's membership recruitment in the Centre-North, the party launched a parallel drive in the Centre-South for the LSP, practically supplanting NcS. Finally, during a federal congress on 21 December 2019, the party's constitution underwent some major changes, including reduced powers for the federal president, the extension of the federal secretary's and federal council's terms from three to five years, the introduction of "dual membership" and the faculty given to the federal council to grant the use of the party's symbol to other political parties. With the end of its membership drive in August 2020, the LSP became active throughout Italy. The LN, unable to be dissolved because of its burden of €49 million debt to the Italian state, was instead formally kept alive, while its membership cards were donated to former activists.
2020 regional elections and aftermath Salvini's popularity was supposed to create better chances for the League to continue its winning streak in regional elections (the latest being the
2019 regional election in
Umbria, where
Donatella Tesei was elected president with 57.6% of the vote and the League obtained 37.0%), particularly in
Emilia-Romagna, a large region long-governed by the
centre-left coalition. However, in the
2020 Emilia-Romagna regional election the party's candidate,
Lucia Borgonzoni, stopped at 43.6% of the vote and was defeated by incumbent president
Stefano Bonaccini (PD). The League's list obtained 32.0% and came second after the PD. The LSP, which had already peaked in opinion polls after quitting the yellow-green government, continued a slow decline in opinion polls and would be eventually eclipsed both by the PD and the FdI during 2021. In the
2020 Venetian regional election,
Luca Zaia, whose popularity was the result of a long-term focus on his home-region
Veneto, was re-elected for a third consecutive term with 76.8% of the vote; Liga Veneta fielded two lists, including the League's official one and Zaia's personal list, which obtained 16.9% and 44.6%, respectively. In the
Tuscan regional election, League's candidate
Susanna Ceccardi was defeated in her bid to become president of Tuscany. The fact that the League had grown electorally only in Veneto and had lost appeal in other regions started to weaken Salvini's leadership, which was more or less silently contested by the "centrist" wing of the party formed by
Giancarlo Giorgetti, Zaia and all of the party's regional presidents, from Lombardy's
Attilio Fontana to
Friuli-Venezia Giulia's
Massimiliano Fedriga, who would become president of the
Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces in 2021.
Draghi national unity government In January 2021, Conte's second government fell after losing support from
Matteo Renzi's
Italia Viva party. Subsequently, President
Sergio Mattarella appointed
Mario Draghi to form a
cabinet, which won support from the League, the M5S, the PD and FI. The League entered the new government with three high-profile ministers from the party's "centrist" wing: Giorgetti, the architect of the party's pro-Europeanist turn and close friend of Draghi, as
minister of Economic Development,
Massimo Garavaglia as
minister of Tourism and
Erika Stefani as
minister for Disabilities. The party's support for Draghi's government stood in contrast to its Eurosceptic stances. In June 2021, Salvini proposed a federation with FI and other centre-right parties supporting Draghi (thus excluding FdI), which has so far went nowhere, as well as a campaign for six referendums on justice along with the liberal
Radical Party. In February 2022, five of the six referendums were approved by Italy's
Constitutional Court, opening the way for a popular vote by June. In the run-up to the
2022 Italian local elections, the party launched a new organisation named Italy First () in southern Italy. The League ran under the "Italy First" banner in most southern cities and in the
2022 Sicilian regional election. According to Calderoli, who registered the new symbol on Salvini's behalf, Italy First could eventually become a new political party, possibly including also FI and other centrist parties. However, as the notion of replacing the League's symbol also in northern Italy was criticised by several party members, especially in Veneto, Calderoli ruled it out. After a few days, Draghi sought a confidence vote again to secure the government majority supporting his cabinet, while rejecting the proposal put forward by Lega and FI of a new government without the M5S. In that occasion, the League, despite calls from its regional presidents to do otherwise, as well as the M5S, FI and FdI, did not participate in the vote. Consequently, Draghi tendered his final resignation to President Mattarella, who dissolved the houses of Parliament, leading to a snap election. In the
2022 general election, the League, which was part of the winning centre-right coalition, won 8.8% of the vote, compared to 26.0% gained by the
Brothers of Italy (FdI) and 8.1% by FI. As a result,
Giorgia Meloni, leader of FdI, accepted the task of forming a new government and announced the
Meloni government, which assumed official functions after each minister was sworn in on 22 October. The League joined the new government with five ministers: Giorgetti minister of Economy and Finance, Salvini deputy prime minister and minister of Infrastructure and Transport,
Giuseppe Valditara (a former aide to
Gianfranco Miglio and co-author of the party's liberal-conservative manifesto) minister of Education, Calderoli minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies, and
Alessandra Locatelli minister for Disabilities. Prior to that,
Lorenzo Fontana, from the conservative wing of the League, had been elected President of the
Chamber of Deputies.
Internal debates and 2023 Lombard regional election In the wake of the disappointing result in the 2022 general election and the run-up to the
2023 Lombard regional election, 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
Paolo Grimoldi, a former leader of Lega Lombarda, and
Angelo Ciocca, a member of the European Parliament, 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 and
Roberto Marcato, a regional minister loyal to Zaia, was leading the challenge in Veneto. Also, four regional councillors affiliated with the CN formed a separate group in the
Regional Council of Lombardy and were subsequently ejected from the party. In the meantime, another group of dissidents, led by
Gianni Fava, who lost to Salvini in the
2017 Lega Nord leadership election and never joined the new party, formed the "Lombard Autonomist Movement" and supported
Letizia Moratti for president, along with the separatists of
Great North, in the regional election. In the election, held in February 2023,
Attilio Fontana was re-elected president with 54.7% of the vote, 20pp more than his closest opponent (while Moratti was a distant third and would return to FI one year later), as well as improving the 2018's tally. While FdI became the region's largest party with 25.2%, the combined score of the Lombard League and Fontana's personal list was 22.7%. Also the CN, whose members might have voted Fontana's list in protest according to some sources, rejoiced, while being worried by FdI's largest party status. Contextually, the centre-right coalition won also in the
2023 Lazio regional election, in which the League obtained 8.5% of the vote. In June 2023, the LV held its congress: Marcato retired from the race when
Franco Manzato emerged as an alternative opposition candidate. At the congress, outgoing federal commissioner
Alberto Stefani, a loyalist of Salvini, was thus elected secretary with 64.3% of the vote against Manzato's 35.7%, possibly with Zaia's silent support. The congress's result stabilised the regional party, but did not silence internal critics, and several minor figures left the party, some of them joining FI, which had been led in Veneto by former LV leader
Flavio Tosi since June 2022. and had become that party's regional coordinator in March 2023, In Lombardy, Castelli started his own
People's Party of the North in November.
2024 European election and 2025 federal congress In the run-up of the
2024 European Parliament election, Salvini invited
Marine Le Pen to the party's traditional rally in
Pontida in September 2023 and organised a conference of the
Identity and Democracy Party in
Florence in December 2023. The party also tried to forge a big-tent, by wooing popular mayors and regional presidents like Zaia, maximizing the right-wing vote by fielding general
Roberto Vannacci and broadening toward the political centre by welcoming longtime centrist MEP
Aldo Patriciello, the
Union of the Centre and the
Italian Liberal Party. In the end, neither Fedriga nor Zaia chose to stand, while Vannacci accepted to be a candidate, despite strong reservations by virtually all senior members of the party. In the meantime, a group of former LN members, led by Tosi, formed the "Forza Nord" coalition within FI: these included
Alessandro Sorte (leader of FI in Lombardy),
Roberto Cota (former president of Piedmont),
Marco Reguzzoni (former floor leader of the LN in the Chamber of Deputies),
Massimiliano Bastoni (former member of LN's right-wing, as well as lately of the CN),
Matteo Gazzini (outgoing MEP and leader of FI in South Tyrol) and
Stefania Zambelli (outgoing MEP). Furthermore, Grimoldi revealed that Bossi was going to vote for FI too. The party's share of the vote was 9.0%, with Vannacci (500,000+ preference votes) being one of the most voted candidates in the election. The party improved its tally in the South, also thanks to candidates like Patriciello and
Raffaele Stancanelli, but suffered in its traditional northern strongholds, where the party fared even worse than in the 2022 general election. Contextually, in the
2024 Piedmontese regional election the party won a mere 9.4% of the vote, while being part of the winning centre-right coalition led by incumbent president
Alberto Cirio. Right after, long-time internal critic Grimoldi was ejected from the party. In October Grimoldi launched the
Pact for the North, which was joined by
Roberto Bernardelli (
Padanian Union–
Great North),
Mario Borghezio,
Giuseppe Leoni,
Giancarlo Pagliarini and other dissidents of Lega Nord and Lega, while Bossi was appointed honorary president. In December 2024,
Massimiliano Romeo was elected secretary of Lega Lombarda unopposed, after that
Luca Toccalini, Salvini's candidate, had withdrawn from the race due to lack of support. In his victory speech, Romeo reclaimed the party's northern identity, while president of Lombardy Fontana spoke of "free Padania". In April 2025, the party held its long-awaited federal congress in Florence. Salvini was re-elected secretary unopposed. Of the 22 elective members of the federal council, the party's governing board, six (plus one representing Lazio) were Lombards, four Venetians, four from other northern regions, three from central Italy and four from the South. During the congress, which was presided over by minister Giorgetti, Vannacci formally became a member of the party. International speakers included
Elon Musk. In May, Salvini appointed four deputy secretaries: Alberto Stefani, also leader of the party in Veneto, and
Claudio Durigon, who were confirmed in their roles, as well as
Silvia Sardone and Vannacci, two new entries.
2025 regional elections During 2025, a string of
2025 regional elections took place. The League has so far had generally disappointing results. In
Aosta Valley the party, whose dissidents had set up the
Valdostan Rally or joined
Future Aosta Valley, won 8.4% of the vote (–15.5 pp), in
Marche 7.4% (–15.0 pp), in
Calabria 9.4% (+1.1 pp) and
Tuscany 4.4% (–17.4 pp). The latter defeat was almost universally ascribed to Vannacci, who had led the campaign, sidelining some leading members, and was accused of denaturing the party's message with his excessively right-wing rhetoric. All eyes and the party's hopes were thus directed toward the upcoming election in
Veneto, the party's ultimate stronghold and one of the last three regions to vote in 2025, along with
Apulia and
Campania. The League long tried to change the law in order to allow term-limited Zaia to run again, as well as fielding Zaia's personal list, under which most of the party's regional councillors had been elected in 2020, but FdI and FI did not agree. However, the party was successful in obtaining the nomination of
Alberto Stefani, regional secretary of the LV, as the coalition's joint candidate for President of Veneto. Unable to run again for the top job, Zaia announced that he would lead the party in all seven provinces. In the run-up of the election, Zaia also floated the idea of restructuring the federal party under the
CDU/CSU model, with the current League and a northern regionalist party centred around the LV. In the election, Stefani was elected President by a landslide 64.4% of the vote and the LV was confirmed the largest in the region with 36.3% of the vote, outperforming the FdI (18.7%) against all odds. Zaia obtained 203,054 (write-in) preferences, the all-time record in Italian regional elections, and was later elected
President of the
Regional Council. Contextually, the party obtained 8.0% in Apulia and 5.5% in Campania.
2026 events In February 2026 deputy secretary Roberto Vannacci, who had become quite isolated after the Tuscan election, left to launch the hard-right
National Future. Vannacci was followed by a handful of elected officials (mostly newcomers with no roots in Lega Nord) and the news was greeted with satisfaction by most of the party's leaders, from Zaia to Fontana, from Fedriga to
Riccardo Molinari. Successively, the party's federal council marked a pro-Europeanist and autonomist turnaround. In March Umberto Bossi, founder of Lega Nord and dean of the LSP's parliamentary groups, died at 84. The funeral was held in
Pontida, location of the party's rallies since 1990, and managed chiefly by minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who was seen as the late founder's heir apparent. Salvini paid tribute to the former leader by wearing the green shirt of the old days, but was contested by some of the participants (including members of the aforementioned Pact for the North and the People's Party of the North), who also sang Lega Nord's old chants. Despite the divisions displayed at the funeral and his own criticism on Salvini, not to mention the decision to open the party to Vannacci and "fascists", Giuseppe Leoni (along with Bossi, one of the founding members of Lega Lombarda in 1984) promised to bring forward Bossi's testament of re-uniting all of the old party's stripes. In April the party held a demonstration along with representatives of
Patriots.eu in Milan. Envisioned in a different context — before Vannacci's exit and Bossi's death (the founder of Lega Nord was mentioned by Salvini in his speech) —, the event moved from the initial idea of a "remigration summit" to a more generic rally. Salvini himself played down the extremist image of the event, saying that "all the controversy over the remigration summit, racism and Islamophobia [were] left-wing hysteria" and that there would "be none of that". Among others, Molinari explained that "the League is not Vox, Fidesz or the National [Rally], we're together because we share the same position against this European Commission, but we have different roots and histories" and, on Vannacci, that "he is a right-wing extremist. His departure was a good thing, we won't miss him. [...] The League has nothing to do with those who praise the X Mas or God, country and family". ==Ideology, platform, factions, and alliances==