Venetian nationalism
Venetian nationalism (also Venetism,[1] from the Venetian/Italian name, venetismo) is a nationalist, but primarily regionalist, political movement active mostly in Veneto, Italy, as well as in other parts of the former Republic of Venice.
Generally speaking, Venetists promote the distinct Venetian identity and the rediscovery of the Republic of Venice's heritage, traditions, culture, and language and/or demand more autonomy or even independence for Veneto from Italy.
[9][10][21] Some historians, who investigated into the historical archive of the Austrian foreign ministry, also suggest that the referendum was a mere administrative affair to Italy, just to formalise the sovereignty on a territory already under its possession, and that no real choice nor free vote was granted to the local population.
[citation needed] Linguistic nationalism soon started to be part of Venetian culture, and during the last decades of the 19th century, also some revolts against southern Italian bureaucrats occurred.[when?
[17] Right after World War I, the economic and political situation in Veneto was critical, so that a former Prime Minister and native of Venice, Luigi Luzzatti, wrote to Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and told him there could be a "Venetian Ireland", in parallel to the simultaneous Irish War of Independence, while the prefect of Treviso signalled the risk that a separatist movement aimed at separating Veneto from Italy might flourish in the province of Treviso.
[17] However, under the Constitution of Italy adopted in 1948, only Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia were granted of the status of special-statute autonomous region and the connected special privileges, mainly including fiscal autonomy.
Venetist ideas made a comeback in the 1960s, when the Venetian Regionalist Autonomous Movement (MARV) campaigned for the institution of the ordinary regions (including Veneto), prefigured by the Italian Constitution.
[17] The opening speech of the first congress of the party in December 1979 recited: "Today for Venetians the moment has come, after 113 years of Italian unitary colonisation, to take their natural and human resources back, to fight against the wild exploitation that has brought emigration, pollution, and rooting out from their culture".
Those in favour included Foggiato, LV's entire group, most councillors of The People of Freedom, Pietrangelo Pettenò of the Communist Refoundation Party–Federation of the Left, Diego Bottacin of Toward North and independent councillor Sandro Sandri, who had expounded the resolution at the start of the session, while the entire group of the Democratic Party left the floor in protest, but proclaimed their support for a special statute for Veneto.
The document required Zaia and Ruffato to urgently open talks with the European Union (EU) and the United Nations in order to come up with a referendum proposal that will establish the will of the Venetian people on its self-determination.
The declaration, promoted by Marco Bassani, was signed by Frank Van Dun, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Donald Livingston, Ralph Raico, Xavier Sala-i-Martin, and Pascal Salin, along with Paolo Bernardini, Carlo Lottieri and Alessandro Vitale.
[83][84] After a hunger strike by two members of IV, in March 2013 Zaia and Ruffato implemented the first step mandated by resolution 44 by appointing the special commission of jurists who would examine the referendum issue.
[85][86] On 2 April Stefano Valdegamberi, floor leader of the Union of the Centre, who had abstained on Resolution 44 in November 2012, introduced a bill (342/2013) in order to call a referendum on independence by the end of the year.
[103][104] The day after, all the floor leaders of the parties (but the federation of the left) represented in the council officially asked the Italian government to give Veneto the status of a special-statute autonomous region and fiscal autonomy.
During an interview with foreign journalists on 19 March, President Zaia announced that he too had voted (yes) in the poll, promised that he would bring bill 342 again to the discussion of the Regional Council and explained that he would seek "total independence" for Veneto.
[121][122] In March 2016 President Zaia announced that he had written to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in order to start the negotiation both on the organisation of the referendum on autonomy and the devolution of further powers to Veneto according to article 116 of the Constitution.
Prominent Venetists have included Goffredo Parise, Franco Rocchetta (founder of Liga Veneta), Ettore Beggiato (who wrote a book titled 1866: la grande truffa, meaning "1866: the great swindle"), Sabino Acquaviva (who prefaced the book by Beggiato), Gian Paolo Gobbo, Fabrizio Comencini, Alessio Morosin, Fabio Padovan, Giorgio Lago, Flaminio De Poli, Giampaolo Borsetto, Ivone Cacciavillani, Manuela Dal Lago, Luca Zaia, Flavio Tosi, Giorgio Vido, Giorgio Panto, Lodovico Pizzati, Antonio Guadagnini, Patrik Riondato, Loris Palmerini, and, to some extent, Giancarlo Galan, Massimo Cacciari and Mario Rigoni Stern.
[137] A prominent Venetist cultural association is Raixe Venete (Venetian Roots), which organises every year the well-known Festa dei Veneti[138] in Cittadella.
[190] During the night between 8 and 9 May 1997 a group of armed Venetist separatists, the so-called Serenissimi, occupied Piazza San Marco and the St Mark's Campanile in Venice in order to proclaim the "independence of Veneto".
[191][192] The members of the group, including the two leaders of the Venetian Most Serene Government (Veneto Serenissimo Governo), Luigi Faccia and Bepin Segato, who did not take part to the action itself, were all jailed, tried and sentenced to prison.
The Serenissimi soon became a sort of "heroes" for many Venetists and the "tank",[197][198] the improvised armoured vehicle with which they reached Piazza San Marco on that night is usually an exhibit at the yearly Festa dei Veneti[199] and at other rallies of that kind, also outside Veneto.
[202] Representatives of most political parties in Veneto, including centre-left figures, defended the Serenissimi: Claudio Rizzato of the Democrats of the Left praised the "noble ideals" of the group,[203] while Massimo Cacciari, the Democratic mayor of Venice, and Gianfranco Bettin, a Green former deputy mayor of Venice, campaigned for the pardon to those in jail, along with Liga Veneta and the regional section of Forza Italia.
According to the police, the group had planned an assault on Luca Zaia, a leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, during the Festa dei Veneti of 2009, because he agreed to become the minister of Agriculture in Berlusconi IV Cabinet, which they perceived as betrayal of the Venetist ideals.
[217] It is unclear whether this will have any real and direct consequence, or will only be used by independentist groups to pursue a lawsuit in favour of an independent Venetian state (perhaps in front of the European Court of Justice) as previously done.
[219][needs update] On the following day, ministerial staff explained that the annexation act was cancelled because it had already been superseded by the Constitution of Italy, which ensures national unity.
[citation needed] During the night between 28 February and 1 March 2011, at a Venetian New Year's Day's bruxamarso (a party which traditionally includes the stake of the passing year), a group of Venetists put at stake a shape of Giuseppe Garibaldi with a banner around the neck reading "l'eroe degli immondi" ("the hero of the unclean"), instead of "l'eroe dei due mondi" ("the hero of the two worlds").
[225][226][227] In jail Faccia proclaimed himself "war prisoner" and answer to questions (as Contin, in house arrest, and Lovato), Chiavegato started a 17-day hunger strike,[228][229] while Rocchetta declared his innocence and pacifism.
[236] On the left, Massimo Cacciari, Gianfranco Bettin and Beppe Caccia wrote a plea and remarked Rocchetta's pacifism: "In all the occasions in which we confronted ourselves with him, his idea of independence was a whole with the European perspective and the recognition of the rights of citizenship founded on jus soli and residence.
[237] Also the network of the far-left social centres expressed their sympathy for Rocchetta, with whom they shared some initiatives in the late 1990s, and the other Venetists; Tommaso Cacciari, one of the leaders of the movement, said that "we are without hesitation on the side of those who seek autonomy and independence against a state which is able to respond to these demands only with the inquiries of the judiciary and Carabinieri" and talked about the "signals of a national sovereignty in crisis".
[238] On 18 April Rocchetta and Chiavegato were released from prison as the tribunal of Brescia did not uphold the accusations of criminal association for terrorism and subversion of the democratic order.
