Padanian nationalism is an ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

 and a regionalist

Regionalism (politics)

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...

 movement demanding more autonomy, or even independence from Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, for Padania

Padania

Padania is an alternative name for the Po Valley in Italy. The term was sparingly used until the early 1990s, when Lega Nord, a political party in Italy, proposed Padania as a possible denomination for an autonomous Northern Italy...

.

Its main proponent is the Lega Nord, a federation of regional parties of Northern Italy

Northern Italy

Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...

, although there are some other minor Padanian nationalist parties (such as the Lega Padana

Lega Padana

Lega Padana is a Padanist and separatist political party active mainly in Piedmont.In the 2009 provincial elections, led by Renzo Rabellino, Lega Padana Piemont obtained 1.1% of the vote in the Province of Alessandria and 1.0% in the Province of Turin...

 and Lega Padana Lombardia

Lega Padana Lombardia

Lega Padana Lombardia , briefly known as Lombardia Autonoma in 2008, is a Padanist and autonomist political party active in Lombardy, Italy....

) and some thinkers (such as Gilberto Oneto, Giancarlo Pagliarini

Giancarlo Pagliarini

Giancarlo Pagliarini is an Italian politician.Born in Milan, he was later elected to the Italian Senate for Lega Nord in 1992 and re-elected in 1994, then elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1996 and in 2001...

 and late Gianfranco Miglio

Gianfranco Miglio

thumb|Gianfranco Miglio School Centre in [[Adro]].Gianfranco Miglio was an Italian jurist, political scientist and politician, founder of the Partito Federalista. For 30 years, he presided over the Political science Faculty of Milan's Università Cattolica...

) who are not part of Lega Nord. In 1996 in Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

 a short-lived separatist-Padanist movement was formed, the Padanian Independentist Movement. On the other side, not all members of Lega Nord are keen Padanists; in Veneto, for instance, the influence of Venetism is also strong enough to counter-balance Padanism.

Padania and Lega Nord

Lega Nord unilaterally proclaimed the independence of Padania on 15 September 1996 in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, but since then has come back to its original federalist

Federalism

Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...

 credo, although the party constitution continues to declare that the independence of Padania is the party's final goal. In that occasion Umberto Bossi

Umberto Bossi

Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....

, the leader of Lega Nord, echoing the United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

, proclaimed:
In the following years Lega Nord installed a non-recognized Padanian Parliament near Mantua

Mantua

Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...

, elected in self-organized elections and a government in Venice. Currently there is the so-called "Parliament of the North" based in Vicenza

Vicenza

Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...

, which functions as an internal structure of the party. Lega Nord proposed also a flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

, the Sun of Alps, and a national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

, the Va' Pensiero chorus from Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...

's Nabucco

Nabucco

Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...

, in which the exiled Hebrew slaves lament for their lost homeland.

More recently the party is trying to stress the independent status of Padania through sports and other activities. Since 1998 Lega Nord organized a Padania national football team

Padania national football team

The Padania representative football team is an unofficial football team promoted by the Italian political party Lega Nord which claim it represents eight northern regions of Italy they call Padania...

, which took part and won 2008

2008 VIVA World Cup

The 2008 VIVA World Cup was the second VIVA World Cup, an international tournament for football, that took place in July 2008. The winners were Padania, who took home the Nelson Mandela Trophy. The tournament was organised by the Nouvelle Fédération-Board....

, 2009 and 2010 VIVA World Cup

2010 VIVA World Cup

-Group B:-------------Knockout stage:-Semi-Finals:-------------5th Place Match:---------3rd Place Match:---------Final:...

. They also sponsor the beauty contest

Beauty contest

A beauty pageant or beauty contest, is a competition that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria...

 Miss Padania

Miss Padania

Miss Padania is beauty contest held in Northern Italy and sponsored by the Lega Nord-Winners:*1997 - Paola Cantamessa*1998 - Sara Venturi*1999 - Giada Sbalbi*2000 - Gloria Anselmi*2001 - Francesca De Rose*2003 - Alice Grassi*2004 - Alice Graci...

since 1998.