Lega Nord

The Northern League (Italian: Lega Nord) is an Italian political party that advocates autonomy for a part of Northern Italy they call Padania.

It presents a merger of the various regional movements including the League of Lombardy and the League of Venice. The movement was founded in 1989, and was part of Silvio Berlusconi's government in 1994. In 1996 the movement announced that its aim was the independence of Northern Italy, under the name Padania. In 2001 they became part of the coalition government again, and hold 30 of 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 17 of the 325 Senate seats.

In later years it has deemphasised demands for independence, and wants greater devolution while remaining within the framework of Italy.