Venetian nationalism (also Venetism, from the Venetian/
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
name, ''venetismo'') is a
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
, but primarily regionalist, political movement active mostly in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, as well as in other parts of the former
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
.
Generally speaking, Venetists promote the distinct Venetian identity and the rediscovery of the Republic of Venice's heritage, traditions, culture, and language and/or demand more autonomy or even independence for Veneto from Italy. According to journalist Paolo Possamai, Venetism is "the strain of Veneto and Venetians toward the recognition of their identity and autonomy". Venetism is a broad movement, which definitely includes Venetist parties, notably
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
, but also encompasses people from several political parties. In 1982 Goffredo Parise, a writer and journalist, wrote: "Veneto is my fatherland. ..Even if a Republic of Italy exists, this abstract idea is not my Fatherland .. We Venetians have travelled throughout the world, but our Fatherland, that for which we would fight if it were necessary to fight, is Veneto. ..When I see "River sacred to the Fatherland" written on the bridges spanning the Piave, I am moved, not because I think of Italy, but rather because I think of Veneto."
Most Venetists consider Veneto a nation distinct from Italy and some refuse the validity of the result of the referendum through which Veneto (or, better, ''Venetia'') was united with Italy in 1866. Some of them have long proposed a re-edition of that referendum and campaign for the independence of ''Venetia'', a country that would be composed of the territories of the historical Venetian Republic, covering Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and large chunks of Lombardy (the provinces of
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
Crema
Crema or Cremas may refer to:
Crema
* Crema, Lombardy, a ''comune'' in the northern Italian province of Cremona
* Crema (coffee), a thin layer of foam at the top of a cup of espresso
* Crema (dairy product), the Spanish word for cream
* ''Cremà ...
, and a portion of the province of
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...
). The proposal, regarding to Veneto alone, has more recently gained the support of Liga Veneta, the
Government of Veneto
The Regional Government of Veneto (''Giunta Regionale del Veneto'') is the executive of Veneto, one of the twenty regions of Italy. The Regional Government, which has its seat at Palazzo Balbi on the Grand Canal, is led by the President of Veneto ...
, and the majority of the
Regional Council of Veneto
The Regional Council of Veneto (''Consiglio Regionale del Veneto'') is the regional parliament of Veneto.
The Council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when ordinar ...
, which endorsed a bill aimed at organising the referendum in 2014. The
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
ruled that referendum out as contrary to the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
, but authorised an autonomy referendum, which took place on 22 October 2017: 57.2% of Venetians participated in the referendum and 98.1% voted "yes". Consequently,
President of Veneto
The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy.
Election
Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five yea ...
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
started a negotiation with the Italian government.
Although it usually refers to the whole Venetian autonomist movement, the term "Venetism" is sometimes used to identify specifically culture-oriented Venetists, hardline Venetists or those Venetists who refuse the concept of
Padania
Padania (, also , ) is an alternative name and proposed independent state encompassing Northern Italy, derived from the name of the Po River (Latin ''Padus''), whose basin includes much of the region, centered on the Po Valley (), the major plai ...
, a proposed country by Lega Nord, of which Liga Veneta (the most successful Venetist party so far) is the "national" section in Veneto.
Alberto Gardin
Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic '' Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indi ...
, a pro-independence publisher and later self proclaimed 121st Doge who supports the boycott of Italian elections, offers another interpretation by considering "Venetism" a "partisan concept, that is part of the Italian political system (Venetists, as
Socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
,
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
Venetian Republic
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...
existed for 1100 years from 697 to 1797 (submitted to Byzantium until the 9th century), and was the one of the first modern republics of the world. After defeating the
Republic of Genoa
The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the La ...
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
maritime power, and at its height, extended its rule from large parts of the Po Valley to the coastal regions and islands of present-day
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
,
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, and
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
. Venice was a leading power of the Western world in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1797, after a long decline, through the
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...
,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
traded what remained of the Republic with Austria in exchange for other territories. In 1848, Venetians, led by
Daniele Manin
Daniele Manin (13 May 180422 September 1857) was an Italian patriot, statesman and leader of the Risorgimento in Venice. Many Italian historians consider him to be an important figure in Italian unification.
Early and family life
left, House i ...
, rebelled against Austrian rule and established the
Republic of San Marco
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
. Manin, who opposed the proposed unification by some Venetians with the
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...
, resigned, but returned to lead again the opposition against Vienna in 1849.
Venetian territories with the former Duchy of Mantua and Friuli were annexed to Italy in 1866, five years after the Italian unification and the creation of the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
ns, Italy's allies. In the Italian unification process, the conflict is known as Third War of Independence. Austria lost Venetia, ceded to
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
of France, who in turn ceded it to Italy. Austria refused to give Venetian territories directly to Italy because the Austrians had crushed the Italians during the war, defeating the Italians on land during the Battle of Custoza (24 June) and on sea during the Battle of Lissa (20 July). Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps had some success against the Austrians at the Battle of Bezzecca (21 July), but the Italian government ordered Garibaldi to withdraw when Prussia and Austria concluded an armistice. With the Peace of Prague (23 August), Austria agreed to the incorporation of Venetia in the Kingdom of Italy. The same point was repeated in the Treaty of Vienna (12 October), achieved through the mediation of France.
The Venetian territory was first ceded by Austria to France (under a treaty signed by General Karl Moering, on behalf of
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...
, and General Edmond Le Bœuf, on behalf of Napoleon III) as a compensation for French neutrality during the war. According to the treaty, France ceded Venetia to Italy "under the reservation of the consent of the people duly consulted". Whether an option other than becoming Italian was available was unclear, nor was the treaty any more precise on how to consult the people. Venetia was already under Italian control after the French government renounced to it on 19 October.
This increases doubts on the real importance of the plebiscite and leading historians suggest that the referendum in Venetia was held under military pressure, as a mere 0.01% of voters (69 out of more than 642,000 ballots) voted against the annexation and a mere 0.1% (567 ballots) was null, and that it was ultimately rigged. Some historians, who investigated into the historical archive of the Austrian foreign ministry, also suggest that the referendum was a mere administrative affair to Italy, just to formalise the sovereignty on a territory already under its possession, and that no real choice nor free vote was granted to the local population. The plebiscite could have been a mere demonstration to gain legitimacy after the bad conduct of Italy during the so-called Third War of Independence.
The Kingdom of Italy adopted Italian as the official language. Venetians, similarly to several other regional communities, largely rejected that and continued to use their own
Venetian language
Venetian, wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ) is a Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in the Veneto region, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and of ...
, often dubbed as dialect. Linguistic nationalism soon started to be part of Venetian culture, and during the last decades of the 19th century, also some revolts against southern Italian bureaucrats occurred. After its incorporation to Italy, Venetia was so poor that millions of Venetians had to emigrate toward the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, especially
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
(three millions left their homeland from 1870 and 1910), without losing their heritage, so even today, many Venetian descendants in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, most notably in two Brazilian southern states, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, speak Venetian as their mother tongue.
World Wars and the Italian Republic
Right after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the economic and political situation in Veneto was critical, so that a former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
and native of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
,
Luigi Luzzatti
Luigi Luzzatti (11 March 1841 – 29 March 1927) was an Italian financier, political economist, social philosopher, and jurist. He served as the 20th prime minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911.
Luzzatti came from a wealthy and cultured Jewis ...
, wrote to Prime Minister
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (19 May 1860 – 1 December 1952) was an Italian statesman, who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from October 1917 to June 1919. Orlando is best known for representing Italy in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference with h ...
and told him there could be a "Venetian Ireland", in parallel to the simultaneous Irish War of Independence, while the prefect of
Treviso
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
signalled the risk that a separatist movement aimed at separating Veneto from Italy might flourish in the province of
Treviso
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
.
Precursors of the present-day Venetist movement date back to before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and were both left- and right-wing. In 1920 ''La Riscossa'', a Venetian newspaper close to the
Socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
and the Republicans, espoused the need for a "united elective governorate with autonomous and competent technical and administrative organs" as an alternative to the "central political rule" Guido Bergamo, a Republican member of the Chamber of Deputies elected in Veneto, wrote that "the Venetian problem is so acute that from today on we will preach the rebellion of Venetians. Citizens, let's not pay taxes, not recognise the central government in Rome, chase away prefects, retain the money from direct taxes in Veneto". Shortly after Italico Corradino Cappellotto, a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Italian People's Party, launched the first Venetist party forth of the 1921 general election: the
Lion of Saint Mark
The Lion of Saint Mark, representing Mark the Evangelist, pictured in the form of a winged lion, is an aspect of the Tetramorph. On the pinnacle of St Mark's Cathedral he is depicted as holding a Bible, and surmounting a golden lion which is ...
won 6.1% of the votes in the province of Treviso.Francesco Jori, ''Dalla Łiga alla Lega. Storia, movimenti, protagonisti'', Marsilio,
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
Raixe Venete
Raixe Venete (translation: Venetian Roots) is a Venetist cultural association.
Founded in 2002, Raixe Venete is aimed at "keeping the Venetian identity alive through the promotion, the protection and the circulation of the millennial Venetian cul ...
After the takeover of Benito Mussolini, who among other things proposed to eradicate the local languages in favour of Italian language widespread, the rise of Fascism, World War II, and the birth of the
Italian Republic
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, Venetist ideas lost ground, in an era in which the "myth of the indivisibility and the unity" of the country was strong even in Veneto. However, the campaign of Mussolini to eradicate regional languages was largely unsuccessful in the region, which soon became a stronghold of the Christian Democracy (DC) party due to the leading role of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in the region. In the 1948 general election Christian Democrats won 60.5% of the vote in Veneto.
Since 1919, Venetia plus the newly annexed territories from Austria, which included
Trentino
Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...
and
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province
, image_skyline = ...
, were called the Three Venices (''Tre Venezie'', whereof '' Triveneto''), meaning ''Venezia Euganea'' (
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...
), ''Venezia Giulia'' (the eastern part of current Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and ''Venezia Tridentina'' (Trentino and South Tyrol). However, under the
Constitution of Italy
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
adopted in 1948, only
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
it, Trentino (man) it, Trentina (woman) or it, Altoatesino (man) it, Altoatesina (woman) or it, Sudtirolesegerman: Südtiroler (man)german: Südtirolerin (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title = Official ...
and Friuli-Venezia Giulia were granted of the status of special-statute autonomous region and the connected special privileges, mainly including fiscal autonomy. Hence, the proposals by some groups of unifying Veneto with the two regions cited above (or with Trentino alone) or giving also Veneto an autonomous statute.
Comeback of Venetist ideas
Venetist ideas made a comeback in the 1960s, when the Venetian Regionalist Autonomous Movement (MARV) campaigned for the institution of the ordinary regions (including Veneto), prefigured by the Italian Constitution. The ordinary regions were finally instituted in 1970.
Since the 1970s, Veneto experienced a dramatic economic boom due to a new production model based on small enterprises. The high burden of taxes and bureaucracy, associated with the increasing frustration with the inefficient and overstaffed Italian government in Rome, that continued to channel northern taxes as massive development aid to the corrupt and backward southern regions, was the key element, along with linguistic and historical claims, that led to the formation of
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
(LV) in January 1980. The opening speech of the first congress of the party in December 1979 recited: "Today for Venetians the moment has come, after 113 years of Italian unitary colonisation, to take their natural and human resources back, to fight against the wild exploitation that has brought emigration, pollution, and rooting out from their culture". European integration through the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
(EU) was seen as an opportunity to give back to Veneto its autonomy.
One of the regional leaders of Christian Democracy (DC), Antonio Bisaglia, early understood Veneto's demand of more autonomy and that his party, the dominant force in Venetian politics since 1946, would have been the main victim of the rise of LV as both parties competed for the support of the middle class. He thus proposed the evolution of the DC into a regional party on the model of the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...
. In 1982, Bisaglia tellingly declared, "Veneto would be mature for a federalist state, but this state, centralist and bureaucratic s it is will never concede autonomy to my region". Opposition from Rome and Bisaglia's sudden death in 1984 stopped the plan of a regional DC on the "Bavarian model".
Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan (born 10 September 1956 in Padua) is an Italian politician.
Political career
After having been an activist of the Italian Liberal Party in the 1970s and the 1980s, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia sin ...
President of Veneto
The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy.
Election
Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five yea ...
from 1995 to 2010, made a similar proposal in 2008, taking example mainly from the
South Tyrolean People's Party
The South Tyrolean People's Party (german: Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP) is a regionalist and autonomist political party in South Tyrol, an autonomous province with a German-speaking majority in northern Italy.
Founded on 8 May 1945, the SVP h ...
, but his "Forza Veneto" remained just an idea.
The LV, whose leader in the 1980s and early 1990s was
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta (born Venice, 12 April 1947) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, philologist and history populariser, who is usually described as the "father" of present-day Venetian nationalism and independentism.
Early life and politic ...
, made its main electoral debut in the 1983 general election, when it garnered 4.3% in Veneto, resulting in two elects to the
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
. The party suffered many splits in its first decade of life and became a large political force only after its federation with other regional leagues, notably including Umberto Bossi's Lega Lombarda, which resulted in Lega Nord (LN) in 1991: in the 1996 general election, the party was Veneto's largest with 29.3%. However, clashes between Bossi and hardcore Venetists led to several splits; in 1994, Rocchetta left in protest, but more damaging was the 1998 split led by Fabrizio Comencini and
Alessio Morosin
Alessio Morosin (born 20 June 1955 in Noale) is an Italian lawyer and politician.
He joined Liga Veneta– Lega Nord in the early 1990s and was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto at the 1995 regional election.
He made his name in Venetis ...
, who launched Liga Veneta Repubblica (LVR). As a result, in the 2001 general election, the LV garnered a mere 10.2% of the vote, its worst score since 1987, while the LVR gained 4.9%. As the latter faded, the LV returned to gain ground in the 2005 regional election, despite the meteoric success of North-East Project (PNE). More recently, a string of separatist parties, notably including
Venetian Independence
Venetian Independence ( it, Indipendenza Veneta, vec, Independensa Vèneta, IV) is a Venetist, liberal and, to some extent, libertarian political party active in Veneto. The party seeks to achieve full political independence for the former ter ...
(IV), emerged.
Both in 1992 and 2000 the Italian
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
rejected proposals for an autonomy referendum, brought forward by the
Regional Council of Veneto
The Regional Council of Veneto (''Consiglio Regionale del Veneto'') is the regional parliament of Veneto.
The Council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when ordinar ...
.http://www.forumcostituzionale.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/nota_118_2015_conte.pdf
In the 2010 regional election the LV, in steady rise since 2001, was by far the largest party in the region with 35.2% of the vote, while its leader
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
was elected President of Veneto by a landslide 60.2%. The combined result of Venetist parties was 37.6%, the highest so far.
In the 2015 regional election, the LV set another record by winning 40.9% of the vote (combined result of party list, 17.8%, and Zaia's personal list, 23.1%) and Zaia was re-elected President of Veneto with 50.1% of the vote and a more coherently Venetist coalition. Separatist parties (Venetian Independence, Independence We Veneto and Veneto Confederal State) obtained 5.4% of the vote, while other regionalist and/or Venetist parties ( Tosi List for Veneto, LTV's sponsored ''Il Veneto del Fare'' list, North-East Union, and Autonomous Veneto Project) another 8.0% of the vote. Consequently, a majority of regional councillors adhered, at least to some extent, to Venetism.
In the 2020 regional election, the LV set one more record by winning 61.5% of the vote (combined result of party list, 16.9%, and Zaia's personal list, 44.6%) and Zaia was re-elected President by a landslide 76.8% of the vote, more than any other candidate in any other region of Italy. Minor Venetist lists and parties (Venetian Autonomy List — sponsored by the LV and including Liga Veneta Repubblica —, the Party of Venetians, Venetian Left and Veneto for the Autonomies) obtained a further 4.1% of the vote. As a result, 34 out of 51 seats in the Regional Council were controlled by Venetists, 33 by LV members.
Recent developments
2012–2015 opinion polls on independence
While support for a
federal system
Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single p ...
, as opposed to a centrally administered state, receives widespread consensus in Veneto, support for independence is less favoured. Recent polls show a rise of independentism. According to an opinion poll made in December 2011, 50% of Venetians support the independence of Veneto. More strikingly, an opinion poll published on ''
Il Gazzettino
''Il Gazzettino'' is an Italian daily local newspaper, based in Mestre, Italy. It is the main newspaper in the Northeast Italy and is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy.
Profile
''Il Gazzettino'' has the following eight local editions:
#Veni ...
'' in January 2012 put those favoring independence at 53.3% (with the support from foreign-born Venetians at 55.0%). According to the same pollster, the support for independence rose to 56.7% in January 2013.
According to a February 2014 poll by Ixè, in a hypothetical referendum on independence, 47% of Venetians would vote yes and 26% no. According to a March 2014 poll by Ilvo Diamanti's Demos&Pi, 55% of Venetians favoured independence, 39% opposed it and the remaining 6% did not answer. According to a similar poll conducted by Istituto Piepoli, 64% of Venetians would vote in favour of more autonomy with 19% against, and 51% would vote for independence with 32% against. According to a Demos&Pi poll taken in October 2014, 53% of Venetians favoured independence, thus making Veneto the most separatist region in Italy, followed by
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
(44%). In March 2015 Demos&Pi found that 57% of Venetians (including 83% of
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
Venetian Independence
Venetian Independence ( it, Indipendenza Veneta, vec, Independensa Vèneta, IV) is a Venetist, liberal and, to some extent, libertarian political party active in Veneto. The party seeks to achieve full political independence for the former ter ...
(IV), notably including
Lodovico Pizzati
Lodovico Pizzati (born 3 September 1973) is an Italian economist, politician, and university professor. He currently teaches at the University of Southern California in the Economics department, where he teaches a combination of upper and lower l ...
Alessio Morosin
Alessio Morosin (born 20 June 1955 in Noale) is an Italian lawyer and politician.
He joined Liga Veneta– Lega Nord in the early 1990s and was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto at the 1995 regional election.
He made his name in Venetis ...
, collected more than 20,000 signatures in support for a referendum on independence and presented them to President
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
. Zaia informed the Regional Council and its President Clodovaldo Ruffato asked an opinion to the legal office, which explained that such a referendum was not legal under the
Constitution of Italy
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
. On 6 October IV organised a march in Venice, during which it proposed a resolution (44/2012) for a consultative referendum on independence to be approved by the Regional Council: the text of the resolution was given to Giovanni Furlanetto, LV regional councillor, who supported the proposition. Another Council member,
Mariangelo Foggiato
Mariangelo Foggiato (Possagno, 19 April 1954) is a Venetist politician.
Having joined Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 1995. However, he left the party in 1998, when he founded Liga Veneta Repubblica ( ...
of North-East Union (UNE), officially presented the resolution in the Council. On 17 October a total of 42 regional councillors out of 60 officially asked a discussion on the issue.
On 28 November the Council approved the resolution, in which "independence" was replaced by "self-determination", with 29 votes in favour, 2 against and 5 abstentions. Those in favour included Foggiato, LV's entire group, most councillors of
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
(EU) and the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
in order to come up with a referendum proposal that will establish the will of the Venetian people on its self-determination. To achieve this goal, the two Presidents would have benefited from the help of a special commission of jurists.
Petition to the EU and international support
On 10 January 2013 a delegation of IV submitted to the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
a petition, signed by 50,000 European citizens, mainly Venetians, to endorse the referendum on self-determination. The collection of signatures for the petition was also supported by Domà Nunch in Lombardy. According to IV leaders, the EU should support the referendum and guarantee its result, a notion which was contradicted by the attitudes of EU institutions toward the 2014 Scottish referendum.
In March an appeal by international academics in support of resolution 44 was issued. The declaration, promoted by Marco Bassani, was signed by Frank Van Dun,
Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German-American economist of the Austrian School, philosopher and political theorist. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Senior Fellow of ...
,
Donald Livingston
Donald Livingston is a former Professor of Philosophy at Emory University and a David Hume scholar. In 2003 he founded the Abbeville Institute, which is devoted to the study of Southern culture and political ideas.
Early life and education
Livin ...
,
Ralph Raico
Ralph Raico (; October 23, 1936 – December 13, 2016) was an American libertarian historian of European liberalism and a professor of history at Buffalo State College.Xavier Sala-i-Martin
Xavier X. Sala i Martín (also ''Sala-i-Martin'' in English) is a Spanish-born Catalan-American economist and professor of economics at Columbia University. Sala i Martin is one of the leading economists in the field of economic growth.http://w ...
Paolo Bernardini
Paolo is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Paul. Notable people with the name include:
People with the given name Paolo
Art
*Paolo Alboni (1671–1734), Italian painter
*Paolo Abbate (1884–1973), Italian-American s ...
, Carlo Lottieri and Alessandro Vitale. According to the appeal, "the self-determination process" of Veneto "will be an important step toward a better Europe and men of goodwill have to do everything possible to ensure that the electoral process leading to the independence referendum takes place without tension and with respect for all the people involved". In Lombardy Bassani, Lottieri and several intellectuals around ''L'Indipendenza'' newspaper formed the Lombard Committee for Resolution 44.
Further steps toward a referendum
After a hunger strike by two members of IV, in March 2013 Zaia and Ruffato implemented the first step mandated by resolution 44 by appointing the special commission of jurists who would examine the referendum issue. The commission was composed of six experts, including IV's Luca Azzano Cantarutti.
On 2 April Stefano Valdegamberi, floor leader of the Union of the Centre, who had abstained on Resolution 44 in November 2012, introduced a bill (342/2013) in order to call a referendum on independence by the end of the year. By 7 June the bill was endorsed by more than 15 regional councillors, sufficient to convene a special session of the Council on the issue. The Council discussed it on 30 July and 17 September, but in both cases no decision was taken.
On 5 April Castellavazzo, Belluno (mayor: Franco Roccon,
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...
) was the first municipality to pass a motion in support of bill 342. Since then, more than 180 ''
comuni
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' (out of 581), led by mayors of different parties and representing about 1,800,000 Venetians (out of approximately 4,860,000), expressed their support for it; they notably include
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
Bassano del Grappa
Bassano del Grappa ( vec, Basan or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo ...
,
Castelfranco Veneto
Castelfranco Veneto ( vec, Casteło) is a town and '' comune'' of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, by rail from the town of Treviso. It is approximately inland from Venice.
History
The town originates from a castle built he ...
Legnago
Legnago () is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Verona, Veneto, northern Italy, with population (2012) of 25,439. It is located on the Adige river, about from Verona. Its fertile land produces crops of rice, other cereals, sugar, and toba ...
,
Montebelluna Montebelluna is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, Italy, approximately northwest of Venice. It has an estimated population of 32,000.
Montebelluna borders the following municipalities: Altivole, Caerano di San Marco, Cornuda, Crocetta del Montello ...
,
Jesolo
Jesolo or Iesolo (; vec, Gèxoło) is a seaside resort town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy of 26,447 inhabitants.
With around six million visitors per year, Jesolo is one of the largest beach resorts in the country, and ...
,
Montecchio Maggiore
Montecchio Maggiore ( vec, Montécio Majore) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is situated approximately west of Vicenza and east of Verona; SP 246 provincial road passes through it.
Montecchio Maggiore bord ...
,
Oderzo
Oderzo ( la, Opitergium; vec, Oderso) is a '' comune'' with a population of 20,003 in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy.
It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is crossed by the Montic ...
and
Cittadella
Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...
. Among provinces,
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
,
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
,
Treviso
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, for a total of about 3,510,000 inhabitants, endorsed the bill.
In February 2014 Liga Veneta–Lega Nord launched its own campaign for a referendum on independence.
On 1 April 2014 a committee of the Regional Council put forward bills calling for a referendum on independence and on more autonomy for the region. The move was supported by the representatives of Liga Veneta, Forza Italia (the minority faction), New Centre-Right, Popular Future, Union of the Centre and North-East Union, with the opposition of the Democratic Party,
Italy of Values
Italy of Values ( it, Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former '' Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the p ...
and the Federation of the Left. The day after, all the floor leaders of the parties (but the federation of the left) represented in the council officially asked the Italian government to give Veneto the status of a special-statute autonomous region and fiscal autonomy. The final document was approved by Liga Veneta, Forza Italia (both fations), New Centre Right, Union of the Centre, Italy of Values and North-East Union.
On 10 June the Regional Council discussed and passed a law concerning five referendum questions concerning special autonomy. On 12 June the same legislative assembly passed Valdegamberi's bill 342/2013 in order to hold a referendum on the independence (question: "Do you want Veneto to become a sovereign and independent republic?") with 30 yeas, 12 nays and 3 abstentions. A year later the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
ruled the independence referendum out as contrary to the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
, but authorised one of the five autonomy referendums ("Do you want the Region of Veneto to be granted of further forms and special conditions of autonomy?"). The event was unique as the Court had previously rejected proposals for similar referendums brought forward by the Regional Council of Veneto.
Online referendum on independence
Plebiscite 2013 (P2013), a non-partisan committee organised ''Plebiscito.eu'', an online
independence referendum
An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence does not alwa ...
, with no official recognition, for 16–21 March. P2013 had been launched by a group of splinters from IV, led by Lodovico Pizzati and Gianluca Busato, in July 2013.
According to ''Plebiscito.eus staff, 2.36 million Venetians (63.2% of all eligible voters) participated in the online referendum and 89.1% of them (that is to say 56.6% of all eligible voters) voted yes. This was enough for P2013 to proclaim Veneto's independence from Italy in
Treviso
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
on the night of 21 March. Voters approved also the adoption of the
Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
(51.4% yes), EU membership (55.7% yes) and
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
membership (64.5% yes).
The event was covered by several international media. During an interview with foreign journalists on 19 March, President Zaia announced that he too had voted (yes) in the poll, promised that he would bring bill 342 again to the discussion of the Regional Council and explained that he would seek "total independence" for Veneto.
On 28 April, during a visit in Veneto, Minister of Interior Angelino Alfano acknowledged that "there is a Venetian question, which will be central in the government's relation with regions". In reference to what he called "Agenda Veneto", he said: "We think that Veneto could be the laboratory for a form of strong and advanced federalism. ..We cannot close our eyes in front of independentist risings. ..The answer is dual: enhancing autonomy and improving the government's services". For his part, Zaia explained to Alfano the "legitimate request of Venetians" for autonomy and independence, and that "the issue of autonomy and the desire of independence of Venetians cannot be resolved with an aspirin", concluding that "if Rome continues to sleep, it is inevitable that Veneto will organise by itself".
Autonomy referendum and negotiation
In March 2016 President Zaia announced that he had written to
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Matteo Renzi in order to start the negotiation both on the organisation of the referendum on autonomy and the devolution of further powers to Veneto according to article 116 of the Constitution. Zaia proposed the referendum to be held on the very same day of the 2016 constitutional referendum (which would reduce the regions' powers—article 117, while expanding the powers that can be devolved to regions according to article 116 and creating a regionalised Senate), a notion deemed legally impossible by undersecretary Gianclaudio Bressa, and the negotiation started in May.
According to an opinion poll taken in June, 78.5% of Venetians would take part to the autonomy referendum, 78.4% would vote yes, 3.5% no and 18.1% did not know. According to the same poll, 70.7% of voters would participate also in the constitutional referendum, 41.3% would vote yes, 22.2% no and 36.5% did not know.
Contextually, two bills calling for an independence referendum were introduced in the Regional Council, one by Liga Veneta's Marino Finozzi, Gabriele Michieletto, Alessandro Montagnoli and Luciano Sandonà, with the support of Roberto Ciambetti (President of the Council), and the other by
Antonio Guadagnini
Antonio Guadagnini (Bassano del Grappa, 25 August 1966) is an Italian politician.
Guadagnini joined Christian Democracy (DC) in the late 1980s and, after that party's dissolution in 1994, he joined a score of centre-right Christian-democratic part ...
.
In April 2017 Zaia announced that the autonomy referendum would take place on 22 October, along with a similar
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
in Lombardy. 57.2% of Venetians participated in the referendum and 98.1% voted "yes". Consequently,
President of Veneto
The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy.
Election
Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five yea ...
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
started a negotiation with the Italian government.
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta (born Venice, 12 April 1947) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, philologist and history populariser, who is usually described as the "father" of present-day Venetian nationalism and independentism.
Early life and politic ...
(founder of
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
),
Ettore Beggiato
Ettore Beggiato (born 4 August 1954) is an Italian historian and politician.
As member of several Venetist political parties (Liga Veneta 1980–1987, Union of the Venetian People 1987–1995, Liga Veneta–Lega Nord 1995–1998, Liga Veneta Re ...
Alessio Morosin
Alessio Morosin (born 20 June 1955 in Noale) is an Italian lawyer and politician.
He joined Liga Veneta– Lega Nord in the early 1990s and was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto at the 1995 regional election.
He made his name in Venetis ...
,
Fabio Padovan
Fabio Padovan (born 11 September 1955, in Conegliano) is an Italian entrepreneur and politician.
In the early 1990s Padovan joined Liga Veneta– Lega Nord and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 1992 general election. In early 1994, ...
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
Lodovico Pizzati
Lodovico Pizzati (born 3 September 1973) is an Italian economist, politician, and university professor. He currently teaches at the University of Southern California in the Economics department, where he teaches a combination of upper and lower l ...
,
Antonio Guadagnini
Antonio Guadagnini (Bassano del Grappa, 25 August 1966) is an Italian politician.
Guadagnini joined Christian Democracy (DC) in the late 1980s and, after that party's dissolution in 1994, he joined a score of centre-right Christian-democratic part ...
Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan (born 10 September 1956 in Padua) is an Italian politician.
Political career
After having been an activist of the Italian Liberal Party in the 1970s and the 1980s, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia sin ...
Mario Rigoni Stern
Mario Rigoni Stern (1 November 1921 – 16 June 2008) was an Italian author and World War II veteran.Corriere della Sera'' in Veneto, published a broad overview of what it described as "Venetist galaxy". The newspaper counted around 20 notable Venetist organisations: along the four major Venetist parties of the time (Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, Liga Veneta Repubblica, North-East Project and
Venetian National Party
The Venetian National Party (''Partito Nasionał Veneto'', PNV) was a Venetist, separatist and libertarian political party active in Veneto, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In September 2010 the party suspended its activities and its member ...
), a large variety of minor political parties, movements, cultural associations and trade unions were listed.
A prominent Venetist cultural association is ''
Raixe Venete
Raixe Venete (translation: Venetian Roots) is a Venetist cultural association.
Founded in 2002, Raixe Venete is aimed at "keeping the Venetian identity alive through the promotion, the protection and the circulation of the millennial Venetian cul ...
'' (Venetian Roots), which organises every year the well-known ''Festa dei Veneti'' in
Cittadella
Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...
. The association has strong links with separatists from all over Europe and especially from the Basque Country. At the ''Festa dei Veneti'', Venetists of every political colour, politicians of different political parties (including non-Venetist, both right and left), Venetist associations, actors, comedians, flag-wavers, musicians (notably including Herman Medrano), rock bands, and many people meet at the beginning of September every year. In November 2009 ''Raixe Venete'' organised a demonstration in Venice in support of the teaching of Venetian in schools: a wide range of people took part, from Roberto Ciambetti, leader of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord in the
Regional Council of Veneto
The Regional Council of Veneto (''Consiglio Regionale del Veneto'') is the regional parliament of Veneto.
The Council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when ordinar ...
, to Luca Casarini, a former far-left anti-globalisation activist and leader of the '' Tute Bianche'' in Veneto.
The European Federalist Free Entrepreneurs (LIFE) was formed in 1994 by a group of Venetist entrepreneurs (Fabio Padovan, Diego Cancian, etc.) who opposed the "fiscal and bureaucratic oppression" of the "Venetian people" by Italy and demanded fiscal federalism and autonomy for the region. In particular, they decided to organise themselves as a trade union, saying that they were the most oppressed workers in Italy.
Another notable association is Venetians Movement and was founded in 2006 by Patrik Riondato. Initially it presented itself as a cross-party political movement which aimed to promote independence in a democratic and nonviolent way. However, in 2010 it took part to the founding of the Party of the Venetians, a coalition of Venetist parties ranging from the centre-right to the far-left, which was later merged into
Veneto State
Veneto State (''Veneto Stato'', VS) was a Venetist political party active in Veneto and eastern Lombardy. The party's goal to achieve full political independence for the former territories of the Venetian Republic from Italy through a referendum ...
Luigi Faccia
is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...
Venetian National Liberation Movement
The Venetian National Liberation Movement (''Movimento di Liberazione Nazionale del Popolo Veneto'', MLNV) is a national liberation movement which seeks self-determination for the former territories of the Republic of Venice, currently divided in t ...
(MLNV) led by Sergio Bortotto, the Venetian National Government of Gabriele De Pieri, and Self-Government of Venetia of Daniele Quaglia.
On the cultural side, it is worth of mention the ''Milizia Veneta'' (Venetian Militia), in practice a corp of people who perform historic representations of the Venetian army (including flag-raising at the ''Festa dei Veneti''), ''Europa Veneta'', ''Par San Marco'' and ''Veneti Eventi''.
The Venetist movement has also several publications, notably including ''Quaderni Veneti'' and ''Rivista Veneti''.
In the midst of the above-mentioned campaign for a referendum on independence, two non-party committees were launched: Plebiscite 2013 and Let Veneto Decide (later supplanted by United for Independent Veneto/We Independent Veneto/ Independence We Veneto, which in turn became an electoral coalition of parties). A string of new parties was founded before and after the 2015 regional election and in the run-up of the 2017 autonomy referendum.
Political parties
The first Venetist party in Veneto was Lion of Saint Mark (''Leone di San Marco''), active from 1921 to 1924 and commonly described as the forerunner of Venetian nationalist parties. It was founded by Italico Corradino Cappellotto, a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Italian People's Party. The party participated in the 1921 general election in the constituencies of the provinces of
Treviso
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, winning 6.1% of the vote in the province of Treviso and scoring around 20% in the very rural areas that would become the heartland of
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
sixty years later. The party was suppressed by Italian Fascism, along all the other parties.
Another Venetist party was the Venetian Regionalist Autonomous Movement (MARV), a cultural-political association, which was active in the 1960s. The first organised Venetist parties were started only after the institution of Veneto as Region and the direct election of the Regional Council in 1970.
Some Venetian parties campaign for federal reform, others for autonomy or a special statute for Veneto, others for an autonomous North-East region including Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
it, Trentino (man) it, Trentina (woman) or it, Altoatesino (man) it, Altoatesina (woman) or it, Sudtirolesegerman: Südtiroler (man)german: Südtirolerin (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title = Official ...
, some others for outright independence. Since the late 1970s many regional parties were founded in Veneto, covering all the ideological spectrum:
*
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
Veneto Padanian Federal Republic
Renato Martin (Jesolo, 1963) is an Italian politician.
Political career
A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord and close friend of Jörg Haider, Martin was elected Mayor of Jesolo in 1993 and re-elected in 1997. In 1998, when Liga Veneta split bet ...
(VRFP – started in 1999, disbanded)
* Liga dei Veneti (LdV – started in 1999, merged into PNE in 2004)
* Future Veneto (VF – started in 1999 as part of
ApE
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...
Venetian National Party
The Venetian National Party (''Partito Nasionał Veneto'', PNV) was a Venetist, separatist and libertarian political party active in Veneto, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In September 2010 the party suspended its activities and its member ...
Venetian National Liberation Movement
The Venetian National Liberation Movement (''Movimento di Liberazione Nazionale del Popolo Veneto'', MLNV) is a national liberation movement which seeks self-determination for the former territories of the Republic of Venice, currently divided in t ...
Veneto State
Veneto State (''Veneto Stato'', VS) was a Venetist political party active in Veneto and eastern Lombardy. The party's goal to achieve full political independence for the former territories of the Venetian Republic from Italy through a referendum ...
Venetian Independence
Venetian Independence ( it, Indipendenza Veneta, vec, Independensa Vèneta, IV) is a Venetist, liberal and, to some extent, libertarian political party active in Veneto. The party seeks to achieve full political independence for the former ter ...
(IV – started in 2012, joined the PdV of 2019 in 2019)
* Plebiscito.eu /
Veneto Yes
''Plebiscito.eu'', originally known as Plebiscite 2013 ( it, Plebiscito 2013, P2013), is a supposedly cross-party nonpartisan committee that campaigns for the independence of Veneto from Italy. Its main leaders have been Lodovico Pizzati, a former ...
Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language f ...
, that comes from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, not
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
. It has undergone Italian influences over the years, which have raised doubts on its identity, and includes several local varieties. The Venetian language is protected by some private institutions, such as the ''Academia deła bona creansa'' and the Venetian Language Institute. The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
includes in its website a Venetian translation of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...
.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
gives to Venetian the status of not endangered language, as it is usually spoken in Veneto,
Trentino
Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
),
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. Venetian is a recognised language by UNESCO, Brazil and the Veneto region with the ISO 639-3 "vec" identifier, the same used by the Venetian-language Wikipedia, but not by Italy.
In 2007 Veneto recognised Venetian as official language of the region, alongside Italian, instituted an official website for standard Venetian and proclaimed a yearly "Day of the Venetian People" (''Festa del Popolo Veneto'') on 25 March, anniversary of the foundation of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
. In 2011 the Regional Council officially requested to the
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
to protect Venetian as a minority language under Italian law. Soon after the 2010 regional election, Daniele Stival (LV), new regional minister for Venetian Identity, appointed a commission of experts which will fix the rules of standard
Venetian language
Venetian, wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ) is a Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in the Veneto region, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and of ...
and the official Venetian names of all 581 municipalities of Veneto. The commissioners included: Davide Guiotto, president of ''
Raixe Venete
Raixe Venete (translation: Venetian Roots) is a Venetist cultural association.
Founded in 2002, Raixe Venete is aimed at "keeping the Venetian identity alive through the promotion, the protection and the circulation of the millennial Venetian cul ...
Lodovico Pizzati
Lodovico Pizzati (born 3 September 1973) is an Italian economist, politician, and university professor. He currently teaches at the University of Southern California in the Economics department, where he teaches a combination of upper and lower l ...
, economist and secretary of
Veneto State
Veneto State (''Veneto Stato'', VS) was a Venetist political party active in Veneto and eastern Lombardy. The party's goal to achieve full political independence for the former territories of the Venetian Republic from Italy through a referendum ...
(later of
Venetian Independence
Venetian Independence ( it, Indipendenza Veneta, vec, Independensa Vèneta, IV) is a Venetist, liberal and, to some extent, libertarian political party active in Veneto. The party seeks to achieve full political independence for the former ter ...
).
Statute of Veneto (1971 and 2011)
Most notably, the Statute of Veneto, first approved in 1971 and rewritten in 2011, cites the "Venetian people". In article 1 it proclaims Veneto as "an autonomous region" and in article 2 that "the self-government of the people of Veneto is implemented in forms corresponding to the features and the traditions of its history. The Region contributes to the enhancement of the linguistic and cultural heritage of its individual communities".
Resolution 42/1998 on self-determination
In April 1998 the
Regional Council of Veneto
The Regional Council of Veneto (''Consiglio Regionale del Veneto'') is the regional parliament of Veneto.
The Council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when ordinar ...
approved resolution 42 concerning the "self-determination" of the "Venetian people". The resolution read: "The Venetian people ..invokes its right to a democratic and direct referendum for the free expression of its right to self-determination". In 2006 the Regional Council officially asked to reform the
Constitution of Italy
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
in order to allow Veneto to be an
autonomous region
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy� ...
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
it, Trentino (man) it, Trentina (woman) or it, Altoatesino (man) it, Altoatesina (woman) or it, Sudtirolesegerman: Südtiroler (man)german: Südtirolerin (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title = Official ...
.
Acts 10/1998 and 28/2017: display of the Venetian flag
Also in April 1998 the Regional Council approved a bill, signed into law as act 10/1998, which mandated the display of the Venetian flag outside regional institutions and offices, provincial institutions and offices, municipal institutions and offices, schools, universities and polling stations, besides Italian and European Union flags.
In September 2017 the Regional Council approved a bill, signed into law as act 28/2017, reinforcing the provisions of act 10/1998. Among other things, the law extended compulsory display of the Venetian flag to Italian governmental offices in Veneto and "every time Italian and European Union flags are displayed". This part of the law was declared unconstitutional by the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
in October 2018, after that the challenge posed by the Italian government.
Act 28/2016: Venetians as "national minority"
In December 2016 the Regional Council approved a bill, signed into law as act 28/2016, aimed at recognising Venetians as a "national minority" (under the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) is a multilateral treaty of the Council of Europe aimed at protecting the rights of minorities. It came into effect in 1998 and by 2009 it had been ratified by 39 member ...
), protecting
Venetian language
Venetian, wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ) is a Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in the Veneto region, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and of ...
and opening the way to its teaching in public schools. This law was challenged by the Italian government and finally overturned by the Constitutional Court in April 2018.
Controversies
St Mark's Campanile assault
During the night between 8 and 9 May 1997 a group of armed Venetist separatists, the so-called ''Serenissimi'', occupied
Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco (; vec, Piasa San Marco), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city (exc ...
and the St Mark's Campanile in Venice in order to proclaim the "independence of Veneto". After eight hours barred in the Campanile, the
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
entered and arrested the group.
The members of the group, including the two leaders of the Venetian Most Serene Government (''Veneto Serenissimo Governo''),
Luigi Faccia
is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...
and Bepin Segato, who did not take part to the action itself, were all jailed, tried and sentenced to prison. The effort, which was more symbolic than anything else, was criticised by Umberto Bossi and
Roberto Maroni
Roberto Ernesto Maroni (; 15 March 1955 – 22 November 2022) was an Italian politician from Varese and a past President of Lombardy. He was the leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padan ...
, leaders of Lega Nord, at that time proponents of the independence of
Padania
Padania (, also , ) is an alternative name and proposed independent state encompassing Northern Italy, derived from the name of the Po River (Latin ''Padus''), whose basin includes much of the region, centered on the Po Valley (), the major plai ...
, while it was praised by Gianfranco Miglio, a former senator of the League who was then elected as an independent for the centre-right Pole of Freedoms. The ''Serenissimi'' soon became a sort of "heroes" for many Venetists and the "tank", the improvised armoured vehicle with which they reached Piazza San Marco on that night is usually an exhibit at the yearly ''Festa dei Veneti'' and at other rallies of that kind, also outside Veneto. Segato was a candidate of Liga Veneta Repubblica in the 2001 general election and came short of election to the Italian Senate, having received 9.8% of the vote in the constituency of Schio.
Representatives of most political parties in Veneto, including centre-left figures, defended the ''Serenissimi'': Claudio Rizzato of the
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy.
The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...
Gianfranco Bettin
Gianfranco Bettin (Venice, 21 June 1955) is an Italian sociologist and long-time leader of the Greens in Veneto.
During his long political career, he was deputy mayor of Venice for Mestre (1995–2005) and member of the Regional Council of Ven ...
, a
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
former deputy mayor of Venice, campaigned for the pardon to those in jail, along with
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
and the regional section of Forza Italia. Some of them were not embarrassed in taking part to a rally, the ''Festa dei Veneti'', where the ''tanko'' was on exhibit. More recently also Lega Nord founder Umberto Bossi and Roberto Calderoli, praised them and another ''leghista'',
Roberto Castelli
Roberto Castelli (born 12 July 1946) is an Italian politician. He was the Minister of Justice in the second and third governments of Silvio Berlusconi. He has been one of the main representatives of the Northern League.
Early life and education ...
, as minister of Justice in 2003, proposed a pardon for Faccia, who refused it.
The MLNV and the "Venetian Police"
In November 2009 some members of the
Venetian National Liberation Movement
The Venetian National Liberation Movement (''Movimento di Liberazione Nazionale del Popolo Veneto'', MLNV) is a national liberation movement which seeks self-determination for the former territories of the Republic of Venice, currently divided in t ...
, who had proclaimed themselves "National Liberation Movement of the Venetian People", were prosecuted with the charge of having built a paramilitary organisation. The Italian police seized arms and uniforms of the so-called ''Polisia Veneta'' (Venetian Police) led by Sergio Bortotto in the headquarters of the movement in
Treviso
Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
. According to the police, the group had planned an aggression to
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
, a leading member of
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
– Lega Nord, during the ''Festa dei Veneti'' of 2009, because he would have betrayed Venetist ideals by accepting to become minister of Agriculture in Berlusconi IV Cabinet. However the attack did not take place also because Zaia failed to show up in Cittadella on that occasion. The day after Zaia declared: "Maybe those people confuse Venetism with something different. Being a Venetist, for me, means defending our heritage, promoting the language and the literature of this region".
In September 2017 all members of the MLNV were completely acquitted.
Cancellation of the annexation of Veneto
On 8 February 2011, the ''Corriere del Veneto'' reported that the act by which the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...
annexed the remaining portion of the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...
, and the province of
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...
) in 1866 was cancelled by a decree that came into force on 13 December 2010, most likely by government mistake. It is unclear whether this will have any real and direct consequence, or will only be used by independentist groups to pursue a lawsuit in favour of an independent Venetian state (perhaps in front of the European Court of Justice) as previously done.
The debate began a day later, with independentist and autonomist groups declaring that Veneto is no longer part of Italy. Political and juridical opinion are conflicted on whether Veneto still belongs to Italy or not, and a regional inquiry is due. On the following day, ministerial staff explained that the annexation act was cancelled because it had already been superseded by the
Constitution of Italy
The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
, which ensures national unity. However, independentist groups were quick to point out not all legal opinions agree with this interpretation. In particular, the
Treaty of Osimo
The Treaty of Osimo was signed on 10 November 1975 by Italy and Yugoslavia in Osimo, Italy, to definitively divide the Free Territory of Trieste between the two states: the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the north-west (Zone ...
, formally transferred the sovereignty of Italian "Zone-B" to Yugoslavia without any changes to the Constitution. This precedent show that the borders of the Italian Republic (hence the territory subject to the Italian Constitution) are established by means of international treaties, not the Constitution itself. Independentists have also argued that Italy can't determine its territorial extent in its own Constitution, as this would suggest it's legal for a state to unilaterally annex the territory of another state.
Garibaldi's effigy burning controversy
During the night between 28 February and 1 March 2011, at a Venetian New Year's Day's ''bruxamarso'' (a party which traditionally includes the stake of the passing year), a group of Venetists put at stake a shape of Giuseppe Garibaldi with a banner around the neck reading "''l'eroe degli immondi''" ("the hero of the unclean"), instead of "''l'eroe dei due mondi''" ("the hero of the two worlds"). The party was organised by ''
Raixe Venete
Raixe Venete (translation: Venetian Roots) is a Venetist cultural association.
Founded in 2002, Raixe Venete is aimed at "keeping the Venetian identity alive through the promotion, the protection and the circulation of the millennial Venetian cul ...
Veneto State
Veneto State (''Veneto Stato'', VS) was a Venetist political party active in Veneto and eastern Lombardy. The party's goal to achieve full political independence for the former territories of the Venetian Republic from Italy through a referendum ...
) and was attended by assorted Venetists, including several members of
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
.
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
,
President of Veneto
The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy.
Election
Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five yea ...
and leading member of Liga Veneta, while criticizing Garibaldi, dissociated from the act: "I love Veneto. I consider myself a Venetist, but burning a shape is a signal to be wary of" when "behind a shape there is a person". Also Luca Schenato, then leading member of Veneto State and contributor of Press News Veneto, a news website close to the party, criticised the act by saying that it "reminded me other latitudes where it is common to burn puppets of political enemies of the flags of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the United States": "I do not see any need for that because my message is not of hate or war. My message and my thought are joyful, proactive and forward-looking. ''Raixe Venete'', for its part, precised that it organised the party but not the burning itself.
Alleged terrorist plot
On 2 April 2014 a group of separatists, notably including
Luigi Faccia
is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...
LIFE
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
's president
Lucio Chiavegato
Lucio is an Italian and Spanish male given name derived from the Latin name ''Lucius''. In Portuguese, the given name is accented Lúcio.
Lucio is also an Italian surname.
Given name
* Lúcio (Lucimar Ferreira da Silva) (born 1978), Brazilian ...
and
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta (born Venice, 12 April 1947) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, philologist and history populariser, who is usually described as the "father" of present-day Venetian nationalism and independentism.
Early life and politic ...
, were arrested for suspected crimes including criminal association for terrorism and subversion of the democratic order. According to prosecutors, the group, which benefited from the collaboration by Venetists from the province of
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
and separatists from other regions (including a group of
Sardinians
The Sardinians, or Sards ( sc, Sardos or ; Italian and Sassarese: ''Sardi''; Gallurese: ''Saldi''), are a Romance language-speaking ethnic group native to Sardinia, from which the western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy de ...
and Roberto Bernardelli, leader of Padanian Union), were preparing a remake of 1997's assault to St Mark's Campanile in Venice and a violent pro-independence demonstration in the run-up of the
European Parliament election
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Unti ...
. A scraper turned tank, which was allegedly to be deployed in
Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco (; vec, Piasa San Marco), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city (exc ...
, was confiscated by
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
.
In jail Faccia proclaimed himself "war prisoner" and answer to questions (as Contin, in house arrest, and Lovato), Chiavegato started a 17-day hunger strike, while Rocchetta declared his innocence and pacifism.
Many politicians, notably including
President of Veneto
The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy.
Election
Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five yea ...
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
, and intellectuals called for an immediate release of the detained Venetists. Lega Nord organised a demonstration in
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
Gianfranco Bettin
Gianfranco Bettin (Venice, 21 June 1955) is an Italian sociologist and long-time leader of the Greens in Veneto.
During his long political career, he was deputy mayor of Venice for Mestre (1995–2005) and member of the Regional Council of Ven ...
and Beppe Caccia wrote a plea and remarked Rocchetta's pacifism: "In all the occasions in which we confronted ourselves with him, his idea of independence was a whole with the European perspective and the recognition of the rights of citizenship founded on '' jus soli'' and residence. ..He is a world away from 'secessionisms' and the politics of exclusion and racist closedness. With him we shared initiatives in the Balkans aimed at intercultural and interreligious dialogue, in terms of total opposition to the savagery of war and ethnic cleansing. ..For how we knew him, we feel we can exclude his involvement in 'terroristic or subversive' activities ... Also the network of the far-left
social centres
Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole c ...
expressed their sympathy for Rocchetta, with whom they shared some initiatives in the late 1990s, and the other Venetists; Tommaso Cacciari, one of the leaders of the movement, said that "we are without hesitation on the side of those who seek autonomy and independence against a state which is able to respond to these demands only with the inquiries of the judiciary and ''Carabinieri''" and talked about the "signals of a national sovereignty in crisis".
On 18 April Rocchetta and Chiavegato were released from prison as the tribunal of
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
did not uphold the accusations of criminal association for terrorism and subversion of the democratic order. Most of the detained Venetists had been released earlier or were released right after, with the notable exceptions of Faccia and Contin, who refused to ask to be released. On 25 April, Feast of Saint Mark and
Liberation Day
Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...
, the released prisoners were celebrated in Venice. The rally was not approved by police authorities and criticised by the leader of the Venetian section of the National Association of Italian Partisans. Rocchetta, who wrote a letter to ''Corriere del Veneto'' to explain how the two anniversaries were not conflicting and that he was going to celebrate both, was hugged by Tommaso Cacciari.
All the defendants were determined not guilty of any wrongdoing and completely acquitted in July 2018. However, seven of them, notably including former ''Serenissimi'' Faccia and Contin, were later sentenced to various years of prison in July 2020.
See also
*
Politics of Veneto
The Politics of Veneto, a Region of Italy takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democracy, whereby the President is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regio ...
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
List of active separatist movements in Europe
This is a list of currently active separatist movements in Europe. Separatism often refers to full political secession, though separatist movements may seek nothing more than greater autonomy or to be recognised as a national minority.
What i ...