Umberto Bossi
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Senatore Umberto Bossi |
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| Federal Secretary of Lega Nord | |
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In office 4 December 1989 – 5 April 2012 |
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| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Roberto Maroni |
| Italian Minister of Federal Reforms | |
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In office 8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011 |
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| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Vannino Chiti |
| Italian Minister for Institutional Reforms and Devolution | |
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In office 11 June 2001 – 19 July 2004 |
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| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Antonio Maccanico |
| Succeeded by | Roberto Calderoli |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
19 September 1941 Cassano Magnago, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Lega Nord |
| Spouse(s) | Manuela Marrone |
Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician, former leader of the Lega Nord, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons (of whom one was from his first wife).
Umberto Bossi was born in 1941 in Cassano Magnago, in the province of Varese, Lombardy. He graduated from scientific high school (liceo scientifico) and later began studying medicine at the University of Pavia, though he did not get a degree. While there, in February 1979 he met Bruno Salvadori, leader of the Valdostan Union.
Before becoming a politician, Bossi was a sympathiser of the Italian Communist Party in his early years. After the death of Salvadori in a car accident during the summer of 1980, Bossi began focusing more on Lombardy. After two years, the autonomist Lega Lombarda was born. In that period Bossi met his second wife, Manuela Marrone.
The Lega Lombarda would later seek alliances with similar movements in Veneto and Piedmont, forming the Northern League, of which he was the federal secretary until April 5, 2012. He became the undisputed and unchallenged leader of the party, a position that he maintained until 2012, even after a serious stroke. He is currently the League's federal president, an honorary title devoid of real power, and is trying to regain the leadership of the movement he founded.
When the scandals of Tangentopoli were unveiled from 1992 on, Bossi rode the wave, presenting himself as the new man in politics, and set out to sweep away corruption and incompetence. Bossi himself, however, received an eight-month suspended prison sentence, along with Lega Nord's treasurer at the time of the events Alessandro Patelli, for receiving a 200-million lire bribe in a trial that also convicted many of the politicians he routinely attacked, such as Bettino Craxi, Arnaldo Forlani and others. Bossi's sentence was upheld on appeal.
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