Venetian independence: a referendum will be organized.

[Peyrol]

Inspired by the nationalist aspirations of Scotland and Catalonia, pro-independence campaigners will hold a mass rally in the heart of the lagoon city on Saturday, calling for an urgent referendum to be held on the issue.

Indipendenza Veneta, a newly-founded pro-independence movement, says it expects several thousand people to turn up for the rally.

They will be ferried across the Grand Canal in gondolas to deliver a "declaration of independence" to the headquarters of the Veneto regional government.

It may sound fanciful, and it will be fiercely resisted by Rome, but activists want to carve out a new country in north-eastern Italy which would comprise Venice, the surrounding region of Veneto and parts of Lombardy, Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

The "Repubblica Veneta", as it would be known, would encompass about five million people.



Recent surveys show widespread support for independence among Venetians, who speak a distinct dialect and feel geographically and culturally distant from Rome.

A poll conducted by Corriere della Sera in September found that 80 per cent were in favour of independence.

A more recent poll by Il Gazzettino, a local newspaper, found a slightly lower but still overwhelming level of support – 70 per cent.

The political movement was formed in May and shortly afterwards presented a petition with 20,000 signatures to Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region.

"We have gained a lot of momentum from what is happening in Scotland and Catalonia and things are moving fast," Lodovico Pizzati, the head of the movement, told The Daily Telegraph on Friday.

"And we are building on a very strong base – calls for independence for the Veneto region go back to the 1970s. It may sound crazy but I think Veneto will become independent before Scotland or Catalonia."

Mr Zaia has acknowledged the high level of support for independence but said there is no constitutional basis for Venice and the surrounding region to secede from Italy.

The pro-independence activists say they have meanwhile referred their case to José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

"We argue that our right to self-determination is being violated," said Prof Pizzati, a former World Bank economist who now lectures at Venice's Ca' Foscari University.

Italy's economic crisis has only exacerbated Venetians' resentment against the central government in Rome.

"The economic situation here is really desperate, with the recession hitting small and medium-sized businesses. Meanwhile of the 70 billion euros we pay in taxes to Rome, we get back about 50 billion euros, directly and indirectly. We are losing out on 20 billion euros a year," said Prof Pizzati.

After more than a millennia of independence, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, La Serenissima, was invaded by Napoleonic forces in 1797, with the French deposing the last doge.

After a few decades under Austrian rule, Venice and the surrounding region was incorporated into Italy in 1866, five years after the unification of the rest of the country.





http://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/rovi...a-veneto.shtml

http://www.ibtimes.com/return-glorio...-europe-841913

[Chieftain]

I feel that many new states will be born in Europe soon, I hope we can make our own union(Praevitana) with Dardania someday and I like the idea of this.

Just out of curiosity, I've heard that some natives of Veneto have claim Illyrian heritage or am I mistaken perhaps?

[Graham]

I know those guys have a movement, seen a few at our marches.

[Tacitus]

I'm assuming the borders are going to reflect the old Republic of Venice (minus, of course, the territories outside of Italy)?

It'd be interesting to see if whatever success they might gain inspires similar movements throughout the rest of the country.

[Smaug]

Well, I'm just a diasporian, so I don't know what to say. Being proud of my Venetian roots as I am it would be interestig to see a new formed State, but on the other hand I am not a hundred percent sure of its success, newly formed countries always go through hard times. Funnly enough I'm also Scottish, and I think the same of the movement for an independent Scotland.

[Peyrol]

The maximum extension of the Venetian Republic was this territory





the current Veneto is this.

[Smaug]

I feel that many new states will be born in Europe soon, I hope we can make our own union(Praevitana) with Dardania someday and I like the idea of this.

Just out of curiosity, I've heard that some natives of Veneto have claim Illyrian heritage or am I mistaken perhaps?

Not Illyrian, but Venetic, who were a different IE people related to Celts and Italics.

[Peyrol]

I'm assuming the borders are going to reflect the old Republic of Venice (minus, of course, the territories outside of Italy)?

It'd be interesting to see if whatever success they might gain inspires similar movements throughout the rest of the country.

The problem is that hypotetically Friuli will be cutted of from the rest of italian state.

Friuli has a strong sense of ethnic pride, btw. Their language is the last remnant of the rhaeto-romance branch of eastern romance languages

[Graham]

They'd do well. Stronger GDP, would bring more confidence to credit agencies. Good solid neighboura in Austria & Switzerland to trade.

[Peyrol]

queso lo scrivo per gli altri italiani...

sicuramente la cosa è anticostituzionale e naufragherà nelle solite proteste e null'altro...però già il fatto che se ne parli a livello nazionale e probabilmente si raccoglieranno le firme necessarie, è un ulteriore sintomo della debolezza dello stato centralizzato.