Bossi, Umberto (1941– )

Italian politician, founder of the Lombard Autonomy League in 1982, and leader of the conservative-populist Lega Nord (LN; Northern League), based in Milan, from 1984. A committed federalist, blaming Italy's lack of economic progress on the southern regions, Bossi declared an independent ‘Republic of Padania’ in September 1996, embracing the whole of northern Italy. In 2001 the LN entered into a right-wing coalition, the Casa delle Libertà (CL; House of Freedoms), and won the May elections. Bossi became minister for institutional reform and devolution under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Born in Varese and educated at Pavia University, Bossi was elected to the senate in 1987. His proposed Republic of Padania, which would include the cities of Milan, Florence, and Venice, was dismissed by other party leaders as unconstitutional and impracticable, but Bossi persisted in his mission.