Death of Bossi, who was the "Senatùr" between myth, power, and scandals

Minister, senator, deputy, MEP, but above all founder of the Northern League, secretary and lifelong president. He is the "Senatùr" Umberto Bossi, who passed away today at the age of 84 years. Born on September 19, 1941 in Cassano Magnago in the province of Varese, he began his political engagement in the early Seventies in the communist group of the manifesto, in the Party of Proletarian Unity for Communism, in ARCI; but after a few years he moved closer to the autonomist and federalist cause and ideas following his meeting with Bruno Salvatori, who was very close to the Union Valdôtaine. In 1979, he met Roberto Maroni, with whom he began a long political partnership, and in the early Eighties, he founded the Lombard Autonomist League, which would later become the Lombard League; he was elected national secretary until 1993 before launching the project of the Northern League. In the political elections of 1987, Bossi was elected senator for the first time, hence the name Senatùr by which he is still known today. In 1989, he founded the Northern League where he definitively united the Lombard League, the Veneta League, the Autonomist Piedmont, the Ligure Union, the Emiliano-Romagnola League, and the Tuscan Alliance, serving as secretary for about 20 years.

This is how the historic party of Via Bellerio was born, with the leader Alberto da Giussano as its symbol, the Và pensiero by Giuseppe Verdi as its anthem, the Sole delle Alpi as the flag of Padania, and "Roma Ladrona" as a mantra. During those years, Bossi began to speak about the project for the independence of Padania, organizing numerous demonstrations and founding some media outlets such as RadioPadania and TelePadania. In 1994, there was a brief alliance with Forza Italia, the newly formed party of Silvio Berlusconi, but the relationship between the two continued with ups and downs until the early 2000s, with the establishment of the coalition called Casa delle Libertà, which won the political elections; in 2001, Bossi became Minister for Institutional Reforms and Devolution. In 2004, Bossi suffered a cerebral stroke, and his condition appeared immediately concerning; after a long hospitalization and an equally long convalescence, he temporarily suspended his political activities; an illness that irreparably compromised his health. In 2008, he was once again appointed Minister for Institutional Reforms in the Berlusconi IV government. On April 5, 2012, following the scandal due to an alleged diversion of party funds in favor of his family, Bossi unexpectedly announced his resignation as secretary of the Lega Nord, a position he had held since 1989; succeeding him in the role of federal secretary was the triumvirate composed of Roberto Maroni, Roberto Calderoli, and Manuela Dal Lago.

He stepped away from the scene for about a year until he ran again in the new primaries of the Lega Nord in 2013, but was defeated by the rising star of the Carroccio Matteo Salvini. The "Captain" Salvini, in full dissent with the Senatùr, immediately decided on a nationalist turn with the aim of finding support even in the South, founding the Lega per Salvini premier and taking over the organs of the Lega Nord.

In the 2024 European elections, unexpectedly, Bossi announced that he voted for Marco Reguzzoni, a former Lega parliamentarian now running as an independent candidate with Forza Italia, asking his followers to do the same. Throughout the long life of the founder of the Lega, there have been several legal proceedings against him, from the Enimont trial where he was accused of violating the law on public funding for parties, to his conviction for insulting the Italian flag. Acquitted following a trial for insulting the Head of State under then-President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, he was instead sentenced in 2018 by the Supreme Court to 1 year and 15 days in prison for insulting the President of the Republic due to insults directed at Giorgio Napolitano.

However, it was the 2012 investigation that severely undermined his political activity. Bossi was indeed registered in the register of suspects by the Milan prosecutor's office on charges of fraud against the State due to the electoral reimbursement scandal. He was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months for having improperly taken about 49 million euros from the state. In August 2019, the fraud charge against Bossi and Belsito was prescribed; the Supreme Court confirmed the confiscation of the 49 million euros from the Lega, while personal confiscations were lifted.