Lombard Nationalism: Part I

Lombard nationalism

Lombard nationalism is a nationalist, but primarily regionalist, movement active primarily in Lombardy, Italy. It seeks more autonomy or even independence from Italy for Lombardy and, possibly, all the lands that are linguistically or historically Lombard.[1] During the 1990s, it was strictly connected with Padanian nationalism.

Today the main Lombard nationalist parties are the Lombard League and Pro Lombardy Independence.


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Lombard language

Lombard (native name lumbàart, lumbard or lombard, depending on the orthography; pronounced [lũˈbɑːrt] or [lomˈbart]) is a language[7] belonging to the Cisalpine or Gallo-Italic group, within the Romance languages. It is a cluster of homogeneous varieties used by at least 3,500,000 native speakers in Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions, notably the eastern side of Piedmont), Southern Switzerland (cantons of Ticino and Graubünden), and Brazil (Botuverá, Santa Catarina). The languages closest to Lombard are Franco-Provençal, French, Romansh, and Occitan.


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The ancient nation of Lumbardia (pronounced "Loom-bar-DEEE-ah")

"This is OUR land, culture, language, and nation! We did not take it from anyone."

Not to be confused with the old Teutonic Lombardic language, the borders of what had been the Lombard language is a good geographical gauge of what our ancestral nation looked like for many centuries. Somewhat oddly, the Lombard people already had won their national independence with two rebellions against the Austrian-Hapsburg Empire back in the mid-nineteenth century. The first was the Five Days of Milan in 1848, largely under the direction of the Milanese Carlo Cattaneo. The second was the Ten Days of Brescia in 1849, under the direction of the Brescian Tito Speri.

It should be noted that Lombardy and the Veneto were under the same Austrian colonial administrative state of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. Also, these revolts did not include the Lombard-speaking regions outside of what we know today as Lombardy, such as the Ticino canton in Switzerland.

The Milan Cathedral, a symbol of Lombard culture

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