Padania / Lega Nord

Federal Republic of Padania / Repubblica del Nord (both refer to the same separatist political party in Italy, also known as Lega Nord/Northern League): 

New flag adopted on 03rd October 2001. The Alternate Flag represent the so-called "Bandiera Storica della Nazione Padana" (The Historical Flag of Padania Nation). It derives from the graphic fusion of St.George flag, the flag of "Resurrection", that has a very important use in Padan heraldry, and "Sole delle Alpi" (Sun of the Alps), the symbol of the Celtic heritage of this land.The flag is now used by the associations that support the idea of cultural, ethnic, socio-political and linguistical independence of Padania (La Libera Compagnia Padana, Ass.ne Cult.Terra Insubre, etc.) and by Lega Nord.

 
The Northern League, a federalist/separatist political party in Italy, emerged from a plethora of provincial formations that cropped up in the northerly heartlands. The first of these home-grown, grass-roots movements was the Liga Veneta (Venetian League), which had its origins in 1979. The following year, the Unione Nord Occidentale Lombarda per l’Autonomia (Unolpa) was founded by Umberto Bossi. In 1982, this leader also founded one of Lega Nord's precursors, the Lega Autonomista Lombarda, which grew from the ashes of Unolpa. Almost immediately, communication and collaboration between him and the other small-town, autonomist movements began. On April 12, 1984 he formed the Lega Lombarda, in Varese. Also that year, the first true embryonic version of Lega Nord, the Unione per l'Europa Federalista, was pieced together. Apart from demanding greater autonomy from the clutches of Rome's centralized apparatus (and its endemic corruption), all of the individual Leagues sought to protect their diverse cultural backgrounds and to preserve their unique ethno-regional dialects/linguistic identities. The wealthy “nazioni” of the north also wanted to disassociate themselves from the less opulent south, in order to safeguard their vital economic interests against their being drained away in perpetuity by State-run enterprises/industries. Amidst these divisive considerations, a quasi-national character was beginning to crystallize; unification of the entire macro-region and its incoherent hodgepodge of local Leagues eventually took shape. This nascent alliance of town-based Leagues, started by Bossi in 1990, was known as the Republic of the North. Its name was subsequently changed to Lega Nord, which was constituted in 1991, also under the guidance of Bossi.
Bossi has since held several higher offices, including Senator and Speaker of the lower house of Parliament (Chamber of Deputies). On May 20, 1990 the first modern Giuramento di Pontida (Oath of Pontida), emulating the one which took place in 1167 and which united the free Italian communes against Barbarossa, was performed. 8,000 fiercely loyal participants, in an unprecedented show of support for the precise direction he was providing for them, swore fealty to Bossi's project. The triumph of a confederation of 16 small-scale Lombard and Venetian cities from the Middle Ages served as a requisite precedent which inspired the Lega in their own current struggle to fulfill their sacred destiny. As their protest gained steam, many supporters and activists looked back even further into the past; rediscovering their hypothetical roots in ancient/ancestral times, they availed themselves of Celtic themes and anachronistic symbolism, carving out a new identity for themselves as Celto-Lombards. They embraced these persuasive historical myths, which fostered a sense of pan-northern identity.
The birth of the Lega Nord was on February 10th 1991, when its first Federal Congress met at Pieve Emanuele (near Milan); there, a cohesive federation was officialy fashioned between Lombardia, Veneto, Piedmont, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, and Tuscany. The new umbrella organization was later joined by Valle d'Aosta, Trentino-Sudtirolo/Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Umbria, and Marche. On June 16, 1991 another celebration took place in the meadows of Pontida; this time there were over 25,000 attendants. On September 13-15 of 1996, Bossi led a rally of over 2 million Padanians to cluster along Venice's River Po (Padus is its Latin name, and Padania is the valley around this river) in order to celebrate the Declaration of Independence and Sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Padania. A provisional Constitution was also approved and adopted. It was hoped that this unitary milestone would lead towards statehood and self-determination. By this time, their own separatist-minded Parliament had been installed in Mantua, and a Guardia Nazionale Padana had been established. Bossi's Northern League achieved a degree of electoral success and became a political force to be reckoned with; they were, at one point, the largest party in the North. They even served briefly in the coalition government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and tried to formulate a more focused, detailed, and well-defined programme. Bossi's vociferous vision was that Italy would inevitably divide peacefully along Czechoslovakian lines. But in the years since, dwindling support for nationalism and major internal divisions further fractured and diluted the group's once radical and extremist aims; their bellicose tone and rough rhetoric have softened somewhat. Separatism is now considered to be wholly impractical by the voting public, and they opt to remain within the existing Italian framework. The party is still active, but they've de-emphasized their call for sovereignty in favor of more moderate and pragmatic goals.
A fantastic chronology, in Italiano, of Lega Nord/Padania can be viewed at:
http://www.naz-toscana.leganord.org/chisiamo.htm
An immense catalog of Padanian coins, complete with images (banknotes and stamps to boot), has been put together by ASCOLPA (Associazione Collezionisti Padani, the organization which produces all the authentic Padanian collectibles); it is available to viewers at:
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/pmarcello/ascolpa/ascolpdn/cataloghi/silvercoincat.htm
 
 
1 Lega and 5 Leghe 1992 coins have double thickness with different legend on the reverse side of the coin containing the word "PIEMONTE".
 
   
A silver medal type coin of Nord Lega - Nord Lombarda has also been minted in 1994.
 
 
Repubblica Federale di Padania 1997 coin.
 
I purchased my Repubblica del Nord (Venetian Nation) 1992 dated coins 1,2,5 & 10 Leghe plus 10 Leghe (Repubblica Federale di Padania) 1997 - Alberto da Giussano from Alejandro Guelfand (worldauctions2000@yahoo.com). The double thickness 1 Lega and 5 Leghe coins were purchase through Oded Paz.

Federal Republic of Padania (Europa Federale dei Popoli) coins of 2002 Ascolpa 1 Euro are available in copper, silver and gold. I have in my collection the copper and silver coins. 1 Euro 2002 Associazione Collezionisaci Padani in Silver (925/1000) coin have a mintage of 100 pieces, while copper have a mintage of 500 pieces. I purchased these coins from from Avino Alfonso (alfonso.avino@fastwebnet.it). The 1 Euro gold  (750/1000) coin also exists.
Europa Federale dei Popoli 2003 bi-metal (Bronze -Copper Nickel) 1 and 2 Euro coins also came from Avino Alfonso. The 2003 coin of 1 Euro = 1936.27 Lira features a soldier with sword having 28.5 mm diameter and weights 10 grams while the 2 Euro = 3872.54 Lira features their flag having 26 mm diameter and weights 8 grams.
 
Other coins of this region are 20 Leghe 1992 Repubblica del Nord (Lombardia Autonomista), 50 Lighe 1992 26.5000g 0.9925Ag Nathion Veneta, 5 Lire 1993 Unione del Nord (Lega Lombarda), 5 Lire 1993 Lega Nord/Unione del Nord (Liga Veneta) and 1 Scudo 1995 Repubblica di Cellatica (Lega Lombarda). Piva Gianpietro of ASCOLPA (collezionistipadani@tiscali.it or giapy@tiscalinet.it) can be contacted for Nord Lega/Padania coins. For international collectors, the e-mail address is ascolpa_foreignservice@yahoo.it. In regards to the Cellatica coin, Mr. Giuliani states that during that time, there were many problems between the town hall and the people of this small Lombardian community: “the local Lega Nord issued a parallel government called Republic of Cellatica, a lot of persons didn't obey to the decisions of the mayor but followed the decisions of this parallel government.”
 
 
Micro-Nations
 
Chiefa Coins