Padania: identity, myth or strategy? The genesis of the political brand invented by Umberto Bossi and abandoned by Salvini

A bottle of water collected at the sources of the Po, a crowd of green shirts, a leader speaking in dialect and chanting slogans that sound like hammer blows: in that scene – imprinted in the collective memory of the North – lies the crucial moment when the simple geographical notion of "Padania" transforms into political identity, into mobilizing myth, and into communicative strategy. From the declaration of independence on September 15, 1996 in Venice to the cutting language of Umberto Bossi's rallies, the invention of Padania has functioned as a brand capable of building communities, redefining political conflict, and shifting votes. It is not just a history of free words: it is the story of how slogans — "Rome the thief" and "The League is tough" — have broken through political jargon, marked an era, and opened a cycle that, even today, though changed, continues to produce effects.

A lexicon against the "center": from breaking political jargon to building a us

The strength of the Padania brand arises from words chosen to be repeatable, memorable, divisive. Between the late 1980s and the 1990s, Umberto Bossi abandons the institutional register and adopts a performative lexicon, in which the slogan does not illustrate the program: it replaces it. "Rome the thief" becomes the emotional frame that opposes the productive North to the Capital, a symbol of centralism and waste; "The League is tough" – a programmatic vulgarity later translated into the neologism "celodurismo" – communicates political virility and willingness to conflict. It is a grammar of identity that plays on sharp contrast, makes simplicity a weapon, and establishes a compact us against a recognizable them. Documents and lexicographic research have fixed the origin and fortune of these expressions, recognizing their impact in the public discourse of the 1990s.

The slogan "Rome the thief" is not just an insult: it is a mental map. It indicates a political center perceived as an adversary, catalyzes fiscal resentments and anti-state sentiments, and offers a scapegoat for territorial frustration. In the political chronicles and journalistic memoirs of the time, that cry traverses demonstrations, rallies, and even newspaper headlines, becoming the synecdoche of an entire season.

The "birth" of Padania: ritual, flag, anthem, emotional geography

The transformation of lexicon into identity is accomplished through a symbolic and spectacular act: the declaration of independence and sovereignty of Padania proclaimed by Bossi in Venice on September 15, 1996, at the end of a march that started on the Po. The event has no legal effects, but it achieves its political purpose: to provide the North with an alternative national imaginary, with its symbols (Sun of the Alps, flag, anthem in "Va' pensiero") and its rituals (the ampoule of the Po). Since then, for over a decade, the Festival of the Padanian Peoples has closed the political year of the Lega Nord, nourishing the community with an identity calendar parallel to that of the Republic. It is in this transition that Padania ceases to be a mere geographical description and becomes a imagined community: a political territory to defend, promised by language and confirmed by ritual.

Pontida: the "temple" of the brand

If Venice puts the institutional seal (albeit symbolic), Pontida is the sanctuary of the brand. Since 1990, the annual gathering attracts leaders and militants, passes down slogans, and renews loyalty to a project that – depending on the phases – oscillates between secession, federalism, and enhanced autonomy. Scholars of political communication interpret Pontida as a device for community building: a place where physical presence becomes an identity reward and the repertoire of key words is renewed without ever breaking. Not by chance, even during the "national" turning point of the years 2013-2018, the event survives and marks the narrative transitions of the movement.

From tax revolt to voting: when the brand makes mass

How much did Padanian rhetoric influence the ballots? The data helps measure the long-term effect of the brand. In the 1996 elections, at the height of the secessionist phase, the Lega Nord reaches around 10% nationally, a historic peak for the original "Padanian" cycle; more than twenty years later, in the March 4, 2018 elections, with the symbol now shortened to Lega, the party led by Matteo Salvini achieves 17.3% and surpasses Forza Italia in the center-right coalition, gaining leadership in the North and a significant share of single-member constituencies. This leap cannot be explained solely by the conjuncture: it is the product of a sedimented identity, a recognizable "us" that, while updated in language, continues to guide affiliations and electoral behaviors.

In those hours of 2018, the electoral maps depict a North colored green, while the South turns yellow M5S: the geography of the vote confirms that the ancient boundary evoked by the Padania brand – however rhetorical – continues to live in the distribution of preferences. It is a legacy of the "North vs Central/South" frame inaugurated in the 1990s and kept alive in political memory by Bossi's lexicon.

From Padania to the nation: the mutation of the brand under Salvini

With the rise of Matteo Salvini, between 2013 and 2018, the party changes its skin: the explicit reference to secession diminishes, references to the "North" disappear from the symbol, and a "sovereignist" nationalism emerges that shifts the target from central Italy to Brussels and migration flows. Yet, the grammar remains the same: short slogans, clear contrasts, occupation of common language. It is the reuse of a brand: the packaging changes, the promise – protection of an "us" against a "them" – remains. Literature and political chronicles agree in seeing this transition as a rebranding that broadens the base without severing the link to its origins; thus, Padania becomes a historical root and symbolic reservoir rather than an immediate territorial claim.

The "vocabulary" of Bossi: when politics speaks like the street

The success of the Bossian vocabulary lies in taking spoken language seriously. Expressions like “finding the square” — which then spread beyond the League — the derision of politichese, and the use of dialects as a tool of proximity have made League oratory a form of anti-official language. The repertoire, in its rawness, has built familiarity: the rallies seemed like street conversations, the insults “liberations” of expression against central power. Linguistic studies and notes from the Accademia della Crusca have recorded traces and meanings, confirming a penetration that goes beyond the contingency.

In this context, the famous “The League is tough” — documented on video and cited in dozens of reconstructions — is not a folkloric excess: it is the foundational metaphor of a party that presents itself as a “virile” force, “capable of saying no” and “resisting.” Politics as a show of strength, belonging as a “hard job”: obscenity becomes identity.

The blind spot: the limits of the brand

Every brand has its shadow zone. The “Padanian” narrative risks simplifications that ignore the deep intertwining between North and South (internal migrations, value chains, fiscal transfers), and can slip into stigmatization. Critical literature and counter-media narratives have often overturned slogans (“Thieving League”), pointing out how a rhetoric based on extreme opposition exposes the brand to wear and tear when it moves from struggle to government. But it is precisely this oscillation – between identity and responsibility – that explains the longevity of the brand: like any strong brand, Padania has adapted without dissolving, transferring its unifying function from regional borders to the national perimeter.