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Padania's flag, the Sun of the Alps, proposed by the Northern League
Padania is a name used to indicate a not-well-defined area of Northern Italy. Its usage has today strong political implications.
Meaning
In the narrowest sense, it would be the valley of the River Po (In Latin, Padus). The term was however used sparingly if at all, since pianura padana was preferred in most geography textbooks and in atlases.
Political Implications
When the Northern League decided to push for a secession of richer Northern Italy from the rest of the country, the League's leader Umberto Bossi gave the name Padania to the areas he meant would secede. The new "country" had a flag, a national anthem (Giuseppe Verdi's Va' pensiero from Nabucco), a newspaper (La Padania), a "parliament" in Mantua and held elections recognized by no one except the Northern League.
The term "Padania" was present in Italian before, but was so rare that most people (including Northern Italians) had never heard of it, and most assumed it was made up by the Northern League. The term padano (padanian), that before was a neutral adjective for the pianura padana, is today often used to indicate League supporters.
The actual boundaries of Padania, in this political meaning, are unclear and somewhat depending on the political stance taken by the League. Whereas most League supporters would expect Padania to include Emilia-Romagna and possibly Tuscany, these regions have a long history of support for left-wing parties, and the League has a negligible presence there. The League has its strongest electoral base in Lombardy (especially Varese province, where Bossi and the League were born) and Veneto.
The Northern League currently controls only 2 of over 100 Italian provinces, namely Sondrio in northern Lombardy and Treviso in Veneto. Most would expect that, were a referendum for the independence of Padania to be held, it would be lost.
Choice of National Anthem
Many have mocked the Northern League for choosing the "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from Verdi's Nabucco, Va' pensiero, which was originally written as a song for Italian unification, whereas the League's objective is exactly the opposite.
Computer virus
A file-infecting computer virus from 1999 also bears the name Padania, and carries a pro-Padania message in its code. An earlier, significantly less important, MS-DOS computer virus is also named Padania.