Second Punic War: Battle of Insubria

Battle of Insubria

The Battle of Insubria in 203 BC was the culmination of a major war, carried out by the Carthaginian commander Mago, brother of Hannibal Barca, at the end of the Second Punic war between Rome and Carthage in what is now northwestern Italy. Mago had landed at Genoa, Liguria, two years before, in an effort to keep the Romans busy to the North and thus hamper indirectly their plans to invade Carthage's hinterland in Africa (modern Tunisia). He was quite successful in reigniting the unrest among various peoples (Ligurians, Gauls, Etruscans) against the Roman dominance.

 

Hannibal famously crossing the Alps with elephants

Rome was forced to concentrate large forces against him which finally resulted in a battle fought in the land of the Insubres (Lombardy). Mago suffered defeat and had to retreat. The strategy to divert the enemy's forces failed as the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio laid waste to Africa and wiped out the Carthaginian armies that were sent to destroy the invader. To counter Scipio, the Carthaginian government recalled Mago from Italy (along with his brother Hannibal, who had been in Bruttium until then). However, the remnants of the Carthaginian forces in Cisalpine Gaul continued to harass the Romans for several years after the end of the war.

 

The Carthaginians invading Rome from the north--which occurred numerous times during the seventeen years of the Second Punic War--seems so improbable. They would have had to to have transported many elephants and tens of thousands of troops over the Strait of Gibraltar, moved north through mountainous Iberia, over a part of the eastern slopes of the Pyrenees, along the coast of southern Gaul, then in a northern direction along the edge of the Alps, then through whatever Alpine passes they could, and finally down into the Po Valley. Apparently they traveled as far east as almost to Lake Garda before turning back west, as the eastern side was Roman territory. All the while maintaining and providing food and water for the elephants, as well as food and water for the troops. Apparently they were well received by the disgruntled Gauls, Ligurians, Insubres, Etruscans, and others. It was almost like a who's who of Rome's enemies in one place. The Carthaginians used the same strategy as the Conquistadors later used in conquering the Aztecs and Incas, in inspiring their enemies' old enemies into action as allies.

Artwork of Hannibal, although this battle was led by his brother Mago

On a side note, the elephants were of a now extinct species called the "North African forest elephant," which was much smaller than the tropical African elephant we know of today. They actually gave the elephants large quantities of alcohol to spur them on and to rage in battle! This battle took place near Mediolanum (Milan today), in the land of the Gaulish tribe the Insubes, whch had not yet been conquered by the Romans. Most historians place the number of Carthaginian troops at 21,000, but some believe that the total forces of the Carthaginians and their allies to have been as high as 30,000, with 7 elephants. Mago's brother Hannibal had brought many more over the years in different battles. On the Roman side, there were four legions plus their allies, which was approximately 35,000 troops, and I presume an additional advantage in some heavy state of the art weapons. The Punic War was a lot more than some simple skirmish someplace. It was Rome vs. Carthage, two superpowers! This was the United States vs. the Soviet Union sixty years ago!

 

The battle in Insubria

In 203 BC, the time came for decisive action. The proconsul M. Cornelius Cethegus and the praetor P. Quintilius Varus led an army of four legions against Mago in a regular battle in the Insubrian land (not far from modern Milan). The description by Livy in his "History of Rome" (Ab urbe condita) shows that each of the opponents deployed their forces in two battle lines. Of the Roman army, two legions were in the front, the other two and the cavalry were left behind. Mago also took care for a possible reverse, keeping in the rear the Gallic levy and the few elephants he had. Some modern estimates put his overall strength at more than 30,000.

 

The course of the battle showed that the first Carthaginian line performed better and the Gauls were less reliable. From the onset, the Romans made futile attempts to break the enemy's resistance and were pressed hard themselves. Then Varus moved the cavalry (3,000 or 4,000 horsemen), hoping to repulse and confuse the Carthaginian lines. However, Mago was not surprised and moved forward the elephants just in time.

 

The horses were stricken by fear and as a result the Roman cavalry was dispersed, chased by Mago's light Numidian cavalry. The elephants turned on the Roman infantry, which suffered heavy losses. The battle only took a bad turn for Mago when Cornelius brought into action the legions of the second line. The elephants were showered upon by darts, with most of them falling, the rest were forced to turn back against their own ranks. Mago ordered the Gauls to stop the Roman counter-attack, but they were routed.

 

According to Livy, all ended with a general retreating of the Carthaginians, who lost up to 5,000 men. Yet, as Livy himself states, the Romans owed their success to the wounding of the Carthaginian commander, who had to be carried away almost fainting from the field because his thigh was pierced. The victory was neither bloodless, nor complete. The first Roman line lost 2,300 men, and the second also took casualties, among them three military tribunes. The cavalry was not spared either, and many noble Equites were trampled to death by the elephants. During the night Mago withdrew his forces to the Ligurian coast, conceding the battlefield to the Romans.

Carthage was the most powerful rival in Rome's history, which is why the Romans eventually made certain to absolutely flatten Carthage. This wasn't their usual policy. This war lasted so long that it took up a major part of the lives of it's generals. Mago started out in the lower ranks, and distinguished himself during Carthage's defeat of the Romans in the Battle of the Trebia fifteen years earlier, and had become a general by the Battle of Insubria. To put that into perspective, someone forty years old was really considered rather up in years at that time. Also, the Battle of Trepia was the first major battle of the Punic Wars, and it pitted 40,000 Romans vs. 40,000 Carthaginians along the Trebia River, in either Liguria or Emilia.

To lose that major battle, and then to overcome Carthage, displayed the indomitable fighting spirit of the Romans. Carthage could very well have won the war and changed history, in the same manner as if the Soviets had defeated the Americans sixty years ago! Carthage was a Phoenician civilization, so Carthage to Phoenicia at this time would have been the same as what America was to Great Britain two hundred years ago. The Punic Wars were also like World War II, in that the battles were fought in all sorts of different locations and environments.

'Temple of Venus and Rome' (artist unknown)

For Mago the setback was severe, considering what gains a victory would have brought.

The Romans were left in command of the Po Valley and all hopes for a repetition of the events from the beginning of the war faded.

It is certain that for five years after the end of the Second Punic war the Romans had to fight the remnants of the Carthaginian forces in Northern Italy.

Mago's defeat in 203 BC had marked one of the last attempts to preserve the independence of this region from the Roman advance.

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'Valtellina: A History Lesson on Europe’s Tense North–South Border'

Valtellina

'Valtellina: A History Lesson on Europe’s Tense North–South Border'

Chris Roth - Springtime of Nations - July 24, 2012

Europe’s cultural and even political boundaries have never been more fuzzy and contested.  The Euro Zone crisis is intensifying chauvinistic opinions on what it means to be Northern European and Southern European.  Padania (northern Italy), Catalonia, and even France’s region of Savoy (see a report on Savoyard separatism from this blog), are itching to secede.  Switzerland is content to be a gaping doughnut hole in the European Union (E.U.). And an island in Greece is even trying to join the Republic of Austria (as reported last week in an article in this blog).  It’s always an exercise in perspective to take a look at central Europe’s complicated history and figure out how we got here and where we might be headed.

Switzerland in the late Napoleonic period.  Valtellina is shown with diagonal grey stripes in the lower right.

Today’s Grisons (Graubünden) is “Rhätien,” in lavender, just above it.  Bellinzona and Lugano later united as Ticino.

In that spirit, an academic conference held jointly in the nearby border towns of Tirano, Italy, and Poschiavo, Switzerland, on June 22-23 was the occasion for historians to mull the significance of the 500th anniversary of the annexation, in June 1512, of the Italian region of Valtellina by the Free State of the Three Leagues, which is now the Swiss canton of the Grisons (Graubünden in German, and Grigioni in Italian).  Today, Valtellina forms more or less the province of Sondrio in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, but in 1512 it was under the control of the Holy Roman Empire’s Duchy of Milan until the Three Leagues annexed it.  It remained a Three Leagues dependency without ever being asked to join the Free State’s tripartite confederation (the three leagues were the League of God’s House, the Grey League—Graubünden literally means “Grey League”—and the League of Ten Jurisdictions). 

Flags of Switzerland and the Grisons

Thus, after conquering Switzerland and northern Italy, Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 gave the Valetellinesi the choice of which Napoleonic puppet state to join: the Cisalpine Republic, with its capital in Milan, or the Helvetic Republic, where it would be part of the Canton of Raetia (corresponding to the ancient Roman imperial province of the same name).  It chose the Cisalpine Republic, where more fellow Italian-speakers lived.  (The Helvetic Republic was, as its successor state Switzerland is today, mostly German-speakers).  So, when the Helvetic Republic was reorganized in 1803 under Napoleon into the loosely federal Swiss Confederation we know today, it was with a truncated Grisons replacing Raetia, while Valtellina became part of Napoleon’s Kingdom of (northern) Italy, then the post-Napoleonic Kingdom of Lombardy and Venetia and, later, modern Italy.

Chur, capital of the Grisons, in 1803, the year the modern Swiss Confederation was formed

But what if the Valtellinesi had chosen differently?  As a Grisonian “fourth league,” muses the Milan University historian Guglielmo Scaramellini, Valtellina’s inclusion might have tipped the Grisonian ethnolinguistic and political balance and dampened the Grisons’ motivation to join the Swiss Confederation after Napoleon—“so that still today,” Scaramellini speculates, “there would be a Republic of the Four Leagues, independent and sovereign.  Another miniature Switzerland—but competing with the original!”  The Grisons of today is already trilingual—with a German-speaking majority outnumbering valleys populated by speakers of Italian and Romansh (Rhaeto-Romanic) (Romansh being one of Europe’s threatened languages, related to the much healthier Friulian language spoken in northeastern Italy).  But an independent Grisons that included Valtellina would be dominated by Italian language and culture, and, says the Swiss historian Florian Hitz, “One cannot be sure if a Switzerland weighted to the southeast, with Valtellina, would have been able to withstand Italian irredentism.”

A map of “Insubria”

Nowhere more than on Switzerland’s borders with its neighbors, none of which corresponds to a linguistic boundary, is the arbitrariness of the lines laid down by history more obvious.  (Maybe that’s why the Swiss are so xenophobic: they are trying to change the subject so no one notices that there are no ethnolinguistic grounds for the country existing at all.)  The cultural affinities that run across the border from Valtellina to the Grisons might be something to contemplate, in light of several recent developments.

Since 1995, the Council of Europe has recognized (mostly for touristic and cultural-exchange purposes) a transnational “Euroregion” called Insubria, embracing part of the Italian regions of Piedmont and Lombardy and Switzerland’s Italian-speaking canton, Ticino, to the Grisons’ west—but not, oddly enough, either Valtellina or the Italian-speaking Poschiavo valley in the Grisons.  And an Italian linguist named Lorenzo Banfi founded, in 2005, the bioregionalist nationalist political party Domà Nunch (“Only Ours,” in Lombard dialect) with the quixotic idea of one day declaring an independent Insubria.

The flag of Raetia, as used by the region’s resolutely unofficial football team.

Note the use of grey, as in the “Grey League”—otherwise a rather unusual color in flags.

More relevant here, to the east, is the Euroregion of Raetia Nova—or, if you want to get pedantic about it, Rætia Nova—which as far as I can tell seems to embrace the historically Romansh-speaking areas of: Graubünden; adjoining areas of the Austrian Alps (including Vorarlberg, which after the carnage of the First World War voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to join Switzerland, but without effect); Valtellina; and the Italian autonomous region of Trentino–Alto Adige/Südtirol, where hundreds of thousands of speakers of Friulian and Tyrolean German constitute Italy’s highest concentration of linguistic minorities.  It is hard to get reliable maps of Raetia Nova, suggesting that as a Euroregion it hasn’t really gotten up and running yet, though there was a Raetian football (soccer) team that competed in this year’s VIVA World Cup competition for unrecognized states, held June 9th in Arbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan (as reported on in this blog at the time).  (Since you ask: Zanzibar, Western Sahara, and Tamil Eelam massacred them out of the top ranks with 6-0, 4-0, and 3-0 wins, respectively.)

A Lega Nord–produced map of a sort of European-mini-empires fantasy league, 

showing, in dull orange in the middle of everything, “Greater Padania”

Meanwhile, northern Italy’s separatist Lega Nord (“Northern League”) has recently mooted the idea of a “Greater Padania” (see my article from this blog on that particular benchmark in Umberto Bossi’s descent into silliness) that embraces all of the Alpine region, as far as northern Bavaria.  (See an article from this blog listing Padania as one of “Ten Separatist Movements to Watch in 2012” and another profiling Bossi’s son Renzo Bossi as one of “The World’s 21 Sexiest Separatists.”)

Hitz says that Valtellina would theoretically make a fine Swiss canton: “Ticino was conquered territory, too, so that would fit,” he says, adding, “The country would just have been bigger and more beautiful!”  (Ah, yes, I like my countries Rubenesque myself.)  In fact, in March of this year Switzerland’s minister of defense, Ueli Maurer (ironic onomastic synchronicity: Maurer means wall-builder, but never mind), quipped that Switzerland would be economically capable of annexing Lombardy. He was not serious, but several tens of thousands of Lombards were when, over the next few weeks, they signed a petition supporting the idea.  Under Swiss rule, Lombards would have more autonomy, a better infrastructure, an automatic exemption from foreign military adventurism, and even lower taxes—since, in this Lega Nord way of thinking, there won’t be millions of lazy, jobless Sicilians and Neapolitans to subsidize.

Switzerland’s minister of defense, Ueli Maurer (right), posing with a compatriot

Bossi, the Lega Nord’s founder, had another idea, telling a crowd of supporters recently, “We could declare war on them” (them meaning the Swiss; Bossi is a Lombard), “and then promptly surrender.”  Somehow, I think those are the only terms of annexation the xenophobic—and in particular Italophobic—Swiss would accept.  (Lega Nord sent a delegate to the Valtellina conference to take careful notes.)

But all of these jokes and quips and petitions should be a wake-up call.  Many in central Europe are unhappy with the way the borders are drawn.  They don’t feel the lines and colors on the map reflect their histories, identities, and allegiances.  Sooner or later, something has to give.

The flag of Insubria is a mighty wicked flag, in my opinion.

Yes, that’s Jonah being eaten by a (rather serpent-like) whale.  Twice.
’Cause that’s how Insubria rolls.

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Lombard bits n' pieces on Frigga's Day

Insübria, Land of Waters

Bogoljubskij

Insubria, Land of Waters

Music: "Insubria" by Ticìnn Canntàl (Google Play • iTunes • eMusic • AmazonMP3)

I thought that I had posted this song once before on this blog. It's a song in tribute to "Insubria," which is Western Lombardy. This is where the west Lombard dialect was spoken (along with Ticino, Switzerland), and still is in some places. The name comes from the Gaulish tribe called the Insubri, which inhabited the region in pre-Roman times.

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The DeConcinis

Dennis Webster DeConcini (born May 8, 1937) is a former Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona. The son of former Arizona Supreme Court Judge Evo Anton DeConcini, he represented Arizona in the United States Senate from 1977 until 1995.


Background information

DeConcini was born in Tucson, Arizona, the son of Ora (née Webster) and Evo Anton DeConcini. His father was Judge on the Arizona State Superior Court for 10 years, then served as the Arizona Attorney General for one two-year term from 1948 to 1949 before being appointed to the Arizona State Supreme Court where he served as a Judge for four years from 1949–1953. DeConcini received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona in 1959 and his LLD from the University of Arizona in 1963. He then worked as a lawyer for the Arizona Governor's staff from 1965 to 1967. He founded the law firm of DeConcini, McDonald, Yetwin & Lacy (where he is still a partner) with offices in Tucson, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.

He is a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Evo Anton DeConcini (March 25, 1901 – 1986) was Attorney General of Arizona, and a Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court from 1949 to 1953.

Born in Iron Mountain, Michigan, DeConcini and his family soon moved to Wisconsin. He began studies at the University of Wisconsin in 1920, but his father's death in an automobile accident in February 1921 forced DeConcini to move to Arizona.

Around 1928, DeConcini developed the Government Heights subdivision just south of the VA Hospital (now known as the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System) in Tucson, Arizona. He named the roads in the subdivision President and Lincoln streets and Washington, District and Columbia streets. In honor of President Lincoln and the U.S. capital Washington D.C. Washington Street was later renamed Palmdale Street.

After running various family businesses for a decade, he received a J.D. from the University of Arizona in 1932 and married Ora Webster, of Thatcher.

He was attorney general of Arizona from 1948 to 1949, and then served on the Arizona Supreme Court until January 13, 1953, when he was succeeded by Dudley W. Windes. Prominent attorney Daniel Cracchiolo served as law clerk to Arizona Supreme Court Justice Evo DeConcini in 1952 [1].

He was the father of longtime Arizona Senator Dennis DeConcini and Dino DeConcini a Federal DEA official.

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"Not Padania, but Lombardy, Venetia, etc... Different Lands"

by David from Bergamo

I wanted to mention briefly a piece written several years ago on one of the PAL forums regarding how the former nation of "Lombardia"--as well as numerous other former nations--should be a nation in of itself, rather than a northern "Padania."

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Independence Front Lombardy

The Independence Front Lombardy (Fronte Indipendentista Lombardia, FIL) was a padanist and separatist political party active in Lombardy.

Founded in 2006 by Max Ferrari and other splinters from Lega Lombarda–Lega Nord, FIL joined Lombardia Autonoma in 2008, but soon regained its autonomy as a markedly-separatist party. Ferrari chose to stay in Lombardia Autonoma, which had its name changed into "Lega Padana Lombardia", and finally returned in the League in 2010.

The party eventually re-emerged under the leadership of Piergiorgio Seveso in 2011, when it ran a candidate in the Varese municipal election, but gained a dismal 0.2% of the vote. Since 2012 the website is no more active.


Leadership

National secretary: Max Ferrari (2006–2008), Piergiorgio Seveso (2009–2011)


References

http://www.laprovinciadivarese.it/stories/Cronaca/206143_il_fronte_spiazza_tutti_e_si_schiera_con_oprandi/

http://comunali.interno.it/comunali/amm110515/C0861160.htm

http://www.frontelombardia.net/

I remember a few years ago they were on many forums, try to push for this. It was brought to my attention that there was a much better chance for an independent Lombardy and other northern states, than there was for a Padanian nation. Of course, the requirement would be that they would be under the umbrella of the EU/Bilderberg "European state." It just never got any traction. They had that great Lombard party symbol of the two-headed white eagle with the red cross on white background. The ancient nation flexing it's muscles once again, if even for only a short time.

Lega Lombarda and Lega Padana Lombardia--both Padanist and "Lombardist"--are now active and independent.

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Palazzo del Te

Palazzo del Te or Palazzo Te is a palace in the suburbs of Mantua, Italy. It is a fine example of the mannerist style of architecture, the acknowledged masterpiece of Giulio Romano. The official name, and by far the most common name in Italian, is Palazzo Te, but this may be a relatively recent usage; Vasari calls it the "Palazzo del T" (pronounced as "Te"), and English-speaking writers, especially art historians, continue to call it the Palazzo del Te. In Italian this now suggests use for tea-drinking, which may account for the divergence in usage.

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Clan Wallace Insubria Festival

madmak007's channel

Clan Wallace Insubria Festival marcallo Italy.

The Matt Maginn set

Ever since the movie 'Braveheart' twenty years ago, there has been that comparison with the British Isles' "northern Gaelic-Celt vs. English military power" dynamic.... with that of the "northern Gaulish-Celt vs. Roman military power" dynamic within the Italian peninsula. In both cases, the empirical establishment eventually won and absorbed the conquered region.

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The arms of the House of Visconti

Wars in Lombardy

The wars in Lombardy were a series of conflicts between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan and their respective allies, fought in four campaigns in a struggle for hegemony in Northern Italy that ravaged the economy of Lombardy and weakened the power of Venice. They lasted from 1423 until the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454. During their course, the political structure of Italy was transformed: out of a competitive congeries of communes and city-states emerged the five major Italian territorial powers that would make up the map of Italy for the remainder of the 15th century and the beginning of the Italian Wars at the turn of the 16th century, viz. Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. Important cultural centers of Tuscany and Northern Italy—Siena, Pisa, Urbino, Mantua, Ferrara—became politically marginalized.

The wars, which were both a result and cause of Venetian involvement in the power politics of mainland Italy, found Venetian territory extended to the banks of the Adda and involved the rest of Italy in shifting alliances but only minor skirmishing. The shifting counterweight in the balance was the allegiance of Florence, at first allied with Venice against encroachments by Visconti Milan, then switching to ally with Francesco Sforza against the increasing territorial threat of Venice. The Peace of Lodi, concluded in 1454, brought forty years of comparative peace to Northern Italy, as Venetian conflicts focussed elsewhere.

After the Treaty of Lodi, there was a balance of power resulting in a period of stability lasting for 40 years. During this time, there was a mutual pledge of non-aggression between the five Italian powers, sometimes known as the Italic League. Even there was frequent tension between Milan and Naples, the peace held remarkably well until the outbreak of the Italian Wars in 1494, as Milan called upon the king of France to press his claim on the kingdom of Naples.

The rivalry between the Venetians and the Milanese nations was not always a forgone conclusion as to which side the aristocratic classes of eastern Lombardy would side with. Eventually the Brescians, and later the Bergamasques, would switch loyalty to the Venetian side. Of course these aristocratic milieus, such as the Brescian Council--although powerful in their own right--were still relegated to a lessor position than that of the Venetians, Milanese, Genoese, or Florentines. In the sixteenth century, both Brescia and Bergamo would become part of the Venetian Republic.

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Cisco's Mike Volpi - Born in Milan

Michaelangelo "Mike" Volpi (born 13 December 1966) is best known for his leadership of Cisco Systems business development efforts as Chief Strategy Officer during the company’s prominent growth era, acquiring over 70 companies in less than five years. He then became SVP of the Routing and Service Provider Technology Group, where he managed over 5,000 engineers; in early 2007 this was an $11 billion business for Cisco. He was considered the right-hand man and successor of CEO John Chambers. In 2007 he left Cisco and became EIR at Sequoia Capital. A few months later, he was appointed CEO of Joost. In 2009 he became General Partner at Index Ventures.

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The Lombard origins of "Italian Graubünden"

The Italian Graubünden or Italian Grigioni (Italian: Grigionitaliano or Grigioni italiano; German: Italienischbünden; Romansh: Grischun talian) is the region of the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland where Italian and Lombard are spoken.

Located in the southernmost part of the canton, it includes the districts of Moesa (to the west) and Bernina (to the east), and the municipalities of Bivio in the Albula district and Bregaglia in the Maloggia district. It has a population of about 15,000 inhabitants, of which over 85% speak Italian or Lombard.


Geography

The three regions that make up the Italian Graubünden are separated by mountains, isolated from the rest of the canton as well as from each other. Because of their remoteness and the lack of economic possibilities, emigration has traditionally been a serious issue, and even today more than half of the people born in the Italian Graubünden live and work outside of the region in the predominately Italian-speaking region of Ticino.

This region is a remnant of when the Grey Leagues political alliance of the canton still occupied the Valtellina (Sondrio) against it's will. The Valtellinese didn't  have any "league" or any stake in the struggle for Swiss nationalism. Later the Spanish invaded for a time. Only with the help of the Napoleonic French powers did the region gain some autonomy in 1797, within the old Cisalpine Republic, under the French empire. However, the Grey Leagues were able to maintain control over the three little isolated valleys of this "Italian Graubünden." 

To add to the confusion, the native Romansh language is spoken throughout Graubünden, and even in a few parts of the Valtellina as well. To start with, this people/language is not Romanian, although it is a Romance language. It's a leftover of a culture which was more widespread, but has declined from the encroaching German and Italian languages. In a perfect world, the Lombard and Romansh languages are the proper tongues of this canton and the Valtellina. The famous actor Jim Caviezel is partly of Romansh descent; "Caviezel" being a surname of Romansh origin. There could have been some pre-Roman Germans there, who later assumed a Romance (Roman derived) language.

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Alberto Rabagliati

4 famous Milanese born on this day:

Paolo Maldini - Soccer star; born in Milan; played 25 seasons for A.C. Milan club; longtime captain for Italian national team; son of longtime player and manager for A.C. Milan Cesare Maldini

Claudio Abbado - One of the most celebrated and respected conductors of the 20th century; born in Milan

Carlo Facetti - Auto racing driver; European Touring Car Champion in 1979; born in the province of Milan

Alberto Rabagliati - Singer and actor in Italy and the United States; although more known as a singer and stage actor in Italy, he was known to American audiences for his acting roles in 'The Barefoot Contessa' (1954), 'The Christmas That Almost Wasn't' (1966), 'Street Angel' (1928), 'The Montecarlo Story' (1956), 'Il vedovo' (1959), and 'La vita è bella' (1943); the movie had traditional December airings on Home Box Office (HBO) during the 1970s and early 1980s; his name brings up almost 9,000 results on YouTube; born in milan

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Lake Garda biking trails

When observing a satellite image, such as with Google Maps, Lake Garda is the massive lake which most stands out by far as it sits majestically where the Po flat lands meet the pre-Alps between Lombardy and the Veneto. It's the Lake Tahoe of Europe, as they both sit amid beautiful unspoiled mountains. As old as time, it watched the Battle of Lake Benacus on it's banks in 268 AD--between Roman and Germanic armies--as we would watch ants moving upon a yard.

There's the surrounding mountains and it's ancient villages; as well as the coastal towns such as the beautiful Gardone Riviera.

'Scanuppia and other Bike Trails in the Lago di Garda Area' (LonelyCyclist.rtij.nl)

Sirmione, Lake Garda

Sirmione, Lake Garda

Sirmione, Lake Garda

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Friday is "Frigga's Day"

In Langobardic mythology, this goddess was known as "Frea." She is the only goddess who has a day of the week named after her (along with three gods and three planetary bodies).

Frigg

In Germanic mythology, Frigg (Old Norse), Frija (Old High German), Frea (Langobardic), and Frige (Old English) is the Goddess of the Atmosphere,or the clouds. In nearly all sources she is described as the wife of the god Odin. In Old High German and Old Norse sources, she is also connected with the goddess Fulla. The English weekday name Friday (etymologically Old English "Frīge's day") bears her name.
In Norse mythology, the northernmost branch of Germanic mythology and most extensively attested, Frigg is described as a goddess associated with foreknowledge and wisdom. Frigg is the wife of the major god Odin and dwells in the wetland halls of Fensalir, is famous for her foreknowledge, is associated with the goddesses Fulla, Lofn, Hlín, and Gná, and is ambiguously associated with the Earth, otherwise personified as an apparently separate entity, Jörð (Old Norse "Earth"). The children of Frigg and Odin include the gleaming god Baldr. Due to significant thematic overlap, scholars have proposed a particular connection to the goddess Freyja.

After Christianization, mention of Frigg continued to occur in Scandinavian folklore. In modern times, Frigg has appeared in modern popular culture, has been the subject of art, and receives modern veneration in Germanic Neopaganism.

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Gaulish, Insubrian, reenactment group in Western Lombardy and Ticino; and "The Torc"

The Insubrians were a major Gaulish tribe which inhabited Western Lombardy (including Ticino, Switzerland) in pre-Roman times. I think Gaulish is perhaps a more descriptive term than "Celtic," even though most of these southern Alpine tribes were part of the greater Celtic world. Western Lombardy, with it's distinct western dialect of the Lombard language, is often referred to as "Insubria" within a regional-national context.


Gianluca Preti YouTube channel

I celti insubri north italian's ancient celtic tribes 

[from the video description]:

The tribe of Insubres placed between today's Lombardy and Canton Ticino (Swiss), was one of the largest Celtic tribe populating a big part of northern Italy's territories. We know from Tito Livio, historical of the I° century. BC., the story that around the seventh century BC Belloveso, a celtic prince, came in a place where was living a tribe with the same name of an Edui's tribe, who was after him: this name was Insubres. He decided to found a village in those lands, and questioned 7 wise druids, who consulted the oracle to get a response to tell him where to place the first stone.

The answer was that seeing a semi-walled sow would be the sign who marked the city's boundary. When in the middle of a clearing a White semi-walled sow was found between hawthorn's bushes, they decided that this was the place where found Medhelan. (Milàn). Today we can suppose that those "Insubres" were the direct descendants of Golasecca culture, whose archaeological remains dating ninth - VIII century. BC, are massively present in the area around Milan and Lombardy.

Recently remains were found even in the Milan's midtown. Most of these findings, concern pottery and artifacts commonly used as, bowls, vases and ornaments such as brooches and jewelry of various kinds, but close to this findings it isn't rare at all to find objects of war, such as swords, shields and studs spearheads. The Celtic people, do not always lived peacefully, though not all disputes between the various tribes, were concluding in real battles. Its also common to find objects associated with religious rituals, proof of a deep spirituality connected with the cult of the Celtic deities.

The worship of the goddess Belisama or Brigh, name who might be the origin of the Brianza's place name thet is representing motherhood and fertility, and the cult of the god Cernunnos, the spirit of the forest with deer antlers and snake at his feet, that is a protector of animals, or worshipof Belenos, the sun-god, are just some examples. What at first seemed like a normal activity of a farming community, in reality could conceal preparations for a battle, as all members of the tribe were called to work for the preparation of weapons. Often, then, the women took part in the battle. Famous are the anthropomorphic hilt swords, found in much of Cisalpine Gaul, example of Insubre's and more generally Celtic art.

The figure of the Druid was in Celtic culture, who acted as intermediary with the divine forces of nature and that could change the fate of a battle with his sorcery. He knew the power of words, writing, used to designate the sacred territories and tombstones. The North Etruscan alphabet or Lepontic recently reclassified as Cisalpine Celtic alphabet, is the oldest form of Celtic writing known, and enable us to reconstruct, albeit in a very limited way, the ancient Celtic language of Insubrians. The splendor of till now discovered archaeological remains are barely unveil the complexities of a culture so far in time but so close to our roots. A documentary about Insubres the ancient celtic tribes who found Milano in north italy, and north italian history.

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The torc as a cultural symbol

I wanted to add here the torc as having been an important cultural and spiritual symbol from the iron Age to the period of Romanization and Christianization. It seems to clearly have sprung from the Continental Celts, but extended to other nearby peoples as well, and right up to the edges of the earliest Greek and Roman borders. Cernunnos was depicted as holding a snake (representative of the Ophiuchus constellation) in one hand, and a torc in another. The Hellenic depiction of "The Dying Gaul" showed him wearing a torc, and was apparently a symbol of Greek victory against the nearby Celts. It's ironic that the torc seems to have symbolically "died" along with "The Dying Gaul," at least compared to its former significance over such vast regions. Perhaps it's time to start thinking about this symbol a bit more; maybe as a Gaulish equivalent to the Teutonic hammer or drinking horn?



Torc (Wikipedia)

A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or at least stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few mortice and tenon locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Torcs are found in the Scythian, Illyrian, Thracian, Celtic, and other cultures of the European Iron Age from around the 8th century BC to the 3rd century AD. For the Iron Age Celts the gold torc seems to have been a key object, identifying the wearer as a person of high rank, and many of the finest works of ancient Celtic art are torcs. The Celtic torc disappears in the Migration Period, but during the Viking Age torc-style metal necklaces, now mainly in silver, came back into fashion. Torc styles of neck-ring are found as part of the jewellery styles of various other cultures and periods.

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Insübria, Land of Waters

Insübria, as we all should know, is the name for Western Lombardy. It's named after the Celtic tribe, the Insubres, who occupied that region in pre-Roman times. In a perfect world, Insübria would be a state of Padania. Western Lombardy (including Milan, and Ticino, Switzerland) have a different native dialect than eastern Lombardy, although they both speak the Lombard language as their native tongue. This is a nice song about Insübria. New folk music, I guess it could be referred to as.

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East Lombard, West Veneto, or Orobia?

[Left: Flag of "Orobia" or East Lombardy]


Languages of Italy

I hate to sound overly judgmental or reactionary, but anyone who thinks that there is ONE Italian language is bananas. Italy was hastily put under one roof, just like Yugoslavia was, without any regard for local cultures. The Italian peninsula has numerous languages and cultures. Some developed on their own, stemmed from ancient peoples, and/or were influenced by migrating or invading peoples. "The official language of Italy is Standard Italian, a descendant of the Tuscan dialect..." (Wikipedia: Languages of Italy). For a lot more information and maps, see the Wikipedia web page for Languages of Italy.


Lombard language

From Wikipedia: Lombard language: "Lombard is a language spoken mainly in Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions, notably the eastern side of Piedmont) and Southern Switzerland (Ticino and Graubünden). Lombard belongs to the Gallo-Italic group within the Romance languages.

The two main varieties (Western Lombard language and Eastern Lombard language) show remarkable differences and are not always mutually comprehensible even if Western Lombard is generally easier to understand for an Eastern Lombard speakers than the converse. The union of Western Lombard or Insubric, Eastern Lombard and intermediate varieties under the denomination of "Lombard" is a matter of debate, and it has been argued that the two might potentially form separate languages."

From Wikipedia: Lombard language: Usage: "Standard Italian is widely used in Lombard-speaking areas. However, the status of Lombard is quite different between the Swiss and Italian areas. This justifies the view that nowadays the Swiss areas (sometimes referred to as Swiss Lombardy (Lombardia svizzera) have become the real stronghold of Lombard."

From Wikipedia: Lombard language: In Switzerland: "In the Swiss areas, the local Lombard varieties are generally better preserved and more vital than in Italy. No negative feelings are associated with the use of Lombard in everyday life, even when interacting with complete strangers. Some radio and television programmes in Lombard, particularly comedies, are occasionally broadcast by the Swiss Italian-speaking broadcasting company. Moreover, it is not uncommon for people from the street to answer in Lombard in spontaneous interviews. Even some television ads in Lombard have been reported."

Apparently, the Lombard language developed, at least partially, from the ancient Lombardic language of the Langobardi. From Wikipedia: Lombardic language: "Lombardic or Langobardic is the extinct language of the Lombards (Langobardi), the Germanic speaking settlers in Italy in the 6th century. The language declined from the 7th century, but may have been in scattered use until as late as ca. AD 1000. The language is only preserved fragmentarily, the main evidence being individual words quoted in Latin texts."

For much more information and maps about the Lombard and Lombardic languages, see the Wikipedia page Lombard language and the Wikipedia page Lombardic language. I know I'm copying and pasting a lot of this but, there's a lot of information I'm covering and tying together, so bear with me. On the Lombard language page, don't miss the two example images on signs (a restaurant and town hall). It's amazing to see our language in living usage. The one "BAIT DAL CAMUN" looks very unique, needless to say. No vowels, but it's doesn't look German either. It could even have Celti roots.


Eastern Lombard language

From Wikipedia: Eastern Lombard language: "Eastern Lombard is a group of related dialects, spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Crema and in a part of Trentino.

In Italian-speaking contexts, Eastern Lombard is often generically called a "dialect". This is often incorrectly understood as to mean a dialect of Italian, which actually is not the case. Eastern Lombard and Italian are different languages and are not mutually intelligible.

As per today, Eastern Lombard does not have any official status either in Lombardy or anywhere else: the only official language in Lombardy is Italian."

For more information on the Eastern Lombard language, see the Wikipedia web page Eastern Lombard language.


Orobia

From Flags of the World: Padanian Flag of Orobia (Italy): "This flag on top is neither the actual flag of "Liga Veneta" (= Northern League Venetian section), nor the flag of the "Serenissimi" ("Serenisimi" in Venetian language), indipendentist movement from Veneto, who became famous in 1997 for having "conquered" for some hours the famous Bell-Tower of St. Mark in Venice.

Northern League reused the flag with the sword as the "Flag of Orobia" (= Eastern Lombardy, Provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, which were once dominated by the "Serenisima") where people speak a "dialect" quite different from Western Lombardy (or "Insubria") and hardly understandable for other people: in Italian, when we hear a strange word or phrase, we may say "Che è, bergamasco?" (= What is this? Bergamo idiom?). You can see a small gif at . I daresay that's the top flag modified with blue background!)
Paolo Montanelli, 20 March 2003

It is not the flag of Liga Veneta, but the flag of Eastern Lombardy ("Orobia"): in a project by Lega Nord (even if it's not the official political line of the party) the present Lombardy should be divided in two parts: "Insubria" (Western Lombardy) and "Orobia" (Eastern Lombardy).
Paolo Montanelli, 1 May 2003

The military pattern old Venetian Republic flag (with dark red border) is used by the Serenisima Republic, and now adopted by the Orobico autonomist but with the border changed to gold, and its devices to blue, and the central rectangle changed from dark red to blue according to .
Jaume Olle', 2 May 2003

North League has a different flag for Eastern Lombardy (called Austrasia). So there is two movements claiming a region of Eastern Lombardy? (one Leghiste and other disident?). In my notes Orobia and Austrasia are two different entities: Orobia is Western Veneto, and Austrasia is Eastern Lombardy. Besides, it is not the flag of Liga Veneta, but the flag of Eastern Lombardy ("Orobia").
Jaume Olle', 13 May 2003

What's "Austrasia"? I know only a region called Austrasia about 1,500 years ago and it was not in Northern Italy but in present Central Germany (). Even if I never heard about it, I've found some websites referring to Eastern Lombardy as "Austrasia". But they are very few. Instead, a lot of pages refers to Bergamo/Bèrghem as "capoluogo orobico", Eastern Lombardy as "terra orobica" and so on. Has anyone a description of this flag of "Austrasia"? Is it different from the "bandiera orobica" I located on the web?
Paolo Montanelli, 1 July 2003

The term Orobia never existed, so it is only an invention by North League; the "Orobi" were a pre-roman people that lived in the region of Bergamo, and "Orobie" is the name of the Alps between Bergamo, Lecco and Sondrio.
Fabio Facoetti, 1 July 2003

The Kingdom of Austrasia existed from 511 to 751 in the north-east of Gaul. Its territory covered Rhineland (now in Germany), Luxembourg, a part of Belgium and Lorraine (now in France). Its capital city was Metz, now in Lorraine. I Austrasia was a Merovingian kingdom, in struggle with Neustria, located more westwards. Pepin de Herstal (635-714), from Austrasia, defeated King of Neustrie Thierry III in 687 and unified Austrasia and Neustrie. His son and successor was Charles Martel, father of Pepin le Bref and grand-father of Charlemagne. Charlemagne later invaded the so-called Padania when he suppressed the Lombard kingdom, but I am not aware of any Austrasia he might have created in northern Italy.
Ivan Sache, 1 July 2003

Surely Paolo is right refering with Eastern Lombardy as Orobico (even if is also called Austrasia sometimes). There are several autonomist sensibilities in North Italy. For some, Bergamo was part of the Republic of Venice and is in West Veneto; for others, Bergamo is yet in Lombardy. Who know what were the boundaries of the Celtic tribe that give name to the region? I dont know this and perhaps this is depending of the point of view. Italy has a lot of political parties, coalitions, minor movements, etc... and when is for autonomist groups the situation is complicate (very much complicate!).

I asked Matte Colaone for a clasification of the autonomist movements: Leghiste, League allieds, autonomist out of League, regional italianist, etc... Dozens of flags were published in Flag Report, in several issues. He answered that the clasification will be issued in the next Flag Report, and it seems that this will shed some light on the panorama, but some specifics questions, like this one of Orobia, will remain pending.
Jaume Olle', 1 July 2003

In my opinion, the term "Orobia" never existed. I live 10 kms far from Bergamo, in the land that 2.000 years ago was inhabited by the "Orobi". This people was established in the actual Lombard provinces of Bergamo, Lecco, Como and Sondrio (in fact, the Alps of this region are called "Alpi Orobie"). The origin of Orobi is uncertain (it is not known if they were Celtic or Ligures), and we don't have many documents of their existence, like buildings or objects, because of their backwardness: their region were first occupied by the Etruscan, and then conquered by the Romans, about in 200 B.C., becoming part of the "Gallia Cisalpina" (Cisalpine Gaul).

Roman occupation civilized these regions, with the building of roads and towns. As already said, we people of Bergamo don't have any cultural heritage of these tribes, because many people crossed our territories in the past (Longobard, Ostrogoth, German, Venetian...).
Austrasia is a historical region, completely unreleated to Bergamo and to Italy.
Fabio Facoetti, 2 July 2003

Austrasia was the name of the east lands of Frankish empire (opposite to Neustria). I believe that Austrasia mean "Eastern land" (from germanic ost, derived aust, like Austria) or so, and this is Eastern Lombardy.
Jaume Olle', 3 July 2003

I'm a linguistics student and I only used the term "Orobico" to describe the Eastern Lombardy dialect, which is quite different form that spoken in the western part of Lombardy. I found "Orobico" a much better term than "Bergamasco" (and much more better than "Austrasiano"... ), which is still the most frequent term in dialectology, because that linguistic area also includes Bresciano and Camuno. It's just a question of conventional names.

For example, referring to Northern Italy dialects I use indifferently the words "dialetti gallo-italici" or "dialetti padani" (which do not comprehend neither Venetian nor, of course, Friulian and Ladin) without giving political support to any political party or secessionist project. I'm quite sure the word "Austrasia" has been never used referring to Bergamo and Brescia, either in past times or in recent times, either by sovereigns or by common people...
Paolo Montanelli, 4 July 2003

Austrasia mean the easter lands of any region. To relate current Austrasia with the Frankish kingdom that was known under this name is not the issue. Even if the genesis of the name is the same there is no relation neither simbolic or reivindicative.
Jaume Olle', 4 July 2003

Austrasia is the name of a kingdom whose existence is documented from 511 to 751. At the same time, there was a kingdom of Lombardia, whose eastern part has nothing to do with Austrasia. Wether Austrasia refers to the east or not is absolutely irrelevant in this case. Austrasia cannot be eastern Lombardia.
Ivan Sache, 4 July 2003

[Right: Flag of "Insubria" or West Lombardy]


Western Lombard language

From Wikipedia: Western Lombard language: "Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a little part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and a small part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and part of Grischun). After the name of the region involved, land of the former Duchy of Milan, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see Insubria and Insubres) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, Cisabduano (literally "of this side of Adda River").

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a dialect of Italian language, but actually it is a separate language. It has more than a few similarities to French. Insubric and Italian are different languages and are not mutually intelligible, because of lexical, phonetic, and grammatical differences. Western Lombard, more than many other languages spoken in Italy, has many varieties, because of the mountain geography and history of various political divisions.

Western Lombard is divided into four main classes, called by many Italian linguists lombardo alpino (provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania, Sopraceneri of Canton Ticino and Grigioni in Switzerland), lombardo-prealpino occidentale (provinces of Como, Varese and Lecco, Lugano and its neighbors in Canton Ticino), basso-lombardo occidentale (Pavia and Lodi), and macromilanese (provinces of Milan, Monza, Novara and Valsesia of Vercelli). The boundaries are obviously schematic, since the political division in provinces and municipalities are usually independent from languages spoken.

For more information about the Western Lombard language, see the Wikipedia web page Western Lombard language. Roughly, the Western Lombard language is the majority of Lombardy, Ticino (Switzerland), and the southernmost areas of Graubünden (Switzerland, east of Ticino; Grigioni in Italian); and the Eastern Lombard language is in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, Mantua, and Cremona.


Insubria

As East Lombardy is called "Orobia," West Lombardy is referred to as "Insubria." The Insubres were a Celti tribe who lived in the region before it was Romanized by conquest. Our Lombardian friend in Italy, Alessio Mezzenzana, stated "The UNESCO classifies Lombardic (Insüber and Orobech) as own Languages, within the Gallo-Romance family." Now these names sound very German. It can be confusing. Also, the West is usually identified with Milano, while the East is usually identified with Brescia or Brescia-Bergamo.

Further strengthening the differences between the two regions, is the fact that the East was an important part of the Venetian Republic for a number of centuries. There's one street in Brescia named "San Marco di Brescia," which always symbolizes this nexus for me. The Brescian Council purposely broke away from dictatorial Visconti rule (Milanese) in order to join with the more progressive statecraft (regarding internal matters) of the Venetians, which became official after the "Treaty of Lodi," in the fifteenth century. Therefore, East Lombardia is almost like the "West Veneto" in some people's minds.

From Wikipedia: Flags of the World: Padanian Flag of Insubria: "That is the historical region where I live [=Lumbardia Ucidental/Western Lombardy(I) + Cantun Tisin/Canton Ticino (CH)]. Insubria flag was born on tne 5th september 1395, created by Emperor Venceslao of Holy Roman Empire for Duca Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan
Matteo Colaone, 21 August 2000

I see a connection with Ticino by the II and III quarters, showing a charge quite similar to the arms of Bellinzona. What about the other quarters, what does the black eagle on gold stand for? Roman Empire, in any of it's incarnations?...
Antonio Martins, 30 August 2000

Antonio is absolutely right here, the serpent (in italian "biscione") appearing on this flag is the same as the one appearing on the arms and on the flag of Bellinzona (Ticino).
Pascal Gross, 30 August 2000

Insubria is another term to refer to Western Lombardy. It is taken from the celtic tribe (Insubrae) which settled between the Tessin and the Adda rivers in ancient times. The heraldic flag is the historical banner of the Dukedom of Milan. It was granted by the emperor Wenceslaw in 1395 to Gian Galeazzo Visconti first duke of Milan, being the dukedom part of the Holy Roman Empire. That is why the black eagle appears in the first and fourth quarter. The figure in the second and third quarter is the traditional heraldic simbol of the possessions of Milan first and the Dukedom after. Possession which included the whole of nowdays Western Lombardy, parts of Piedmond and the whole of Canton Tessin in Switzerland.

That is also why the City of Bellinzona still bears the same arms today (in different colours though and without the moor in the mouth of the snake. Bellinzona was always one of the most faithfull cities of the dukedom) and why the people on both side of t! he border speak the same language (that is western lombard). The origin of the use of the snake, apart from the legends, dates back to the first crusade when it was granted by the municipality of Milan to Ottone Visconti one of the leaders of the lombard contingent. Since then it has rappresented the arms of the State of Milan.

The flag has been the official emblem of the Dukedom from 1395 till 1796 when Napoleon dismantled it (together with the Holy Roman Empire) and it appears also in the arms of every emperor of the house of Hapsburg from Carl the fifth onwards (having carried the emperors themselves the title of Duke of Milan after the death of the last Sforza). When the Hapsburgs will re-enter their possessions in 1815 after Napoleon's fall the dukedom will be unified with the former Republic of Venice and Dukedom of Mantua to form the Lombardo -Veneto kingdom.
GianPietro Gallinelli, 29 September 2000

The Padan's Insubria flag was first presented on 4th of June 2000 at Pontida (Bg), Lombardia by Cultural Association "Terra Insubre". See http://www.terrainsubre.com/il_simbolo.htm.
Matteo Colaone, 4 October 2000

In Milan (Lombardy, Italy) page, Jaume Olle said: "Visconti flag 1277-1397. Reconstructed from writen descriptions. In 1397 the use of imperial eagle was granted by Empeor" . Above GianPietro Gallinelli said: "It was granted by the emperor Wenceslaw in 1395 to Gian Galeazzo Visconti first duke of Milan, being the dukedom part of the Holy Roman Empire. That is why the black eagle appears in the first and fourth quarter."

In conclusion the image at Milan's page is, chronologically, the first flag of the Dukedom, and the above flag was the evolution after 1395 of the previous flag , so it should be considered as a political flag in its modern use (autonomist of Insubria), but it is also an historical flag of Milano and Western Lombardy.
Matteo Colaone, 11 November 2000"

Another webpage, which sheds some light on this issue is the Bandiere del Popoli (flags of the people) page for Lombardia.