Christian Democrats (DC) received.rnA liigh-ranking official of the Lega asked me what I thoughtrnof the government’s postponement of elections, and when Irncalled it “un piccolo colpo di stato,” he smiled and expressed hisrnagreement. The elections were rescheduled for Decemberrn(the day after the election an Italian friend called to say “LarnLega ha stravinto”—it won hands down). So far, the secondrnmarch on Rome has not materialized, but it is possible tornsense the trembling of the DC leadership even from one thousandrnmiles away. Former head of state Francesco Cossiga, inrnan interview in London, performed an uncharacteristic act ofrntruckling diplomacy: “I prefer to think of it as an excursionrn(passeggiata),” he commented, explaining that unions andrnparties always come to Rome for their meetings. The headlinernshould have read: “NEW LIGHT SHED ON MUSSOLINI.”rnPerhaps more frightening than Bossi’s original threat wasrnhis denial last October of any plans for a march. Concedingrnthat if he did decide to march “the citizens would supportrnus,” he explained that it was only his “profound democraticrnconviction that prevented him from venturing upon solutionsrnof this type.’rnI cannot think of a major American political figure sincernMacArthur who would let a little thing like democratic processrnstand in the way of his ambitions. If, for the time being, thernhead of the Lega Nord has rejected “solutions of this type,” hernbegan his electoral march on Rome several years ago. At thernend of the 1980’s, when the leghisti were boasting of getting 10rnor 15 percent of the vote in local elections in Lombardia, thernmovement was considered a joke. Reviving the dialect andrncustoms of their Lombard ancestors, the members of the LegarnLombarda struck most educated Italians as participants in arnhistorical pageant representing Manzoni’s / promessi sposi.rnEven two years ago, when the Lega’s threat was confined to thernNorth, Italians made fun of me for expressing an interest in arnmovement that was as irritating as it was c]uaint. They laughedrnwhen I tried to explain that whatever they might think of thernstyle of the “Senatur” (Lombard for “senator”), his message ofrndecentralized federalism and economic reform offered thernonh hope for Italy.rnIn general, the leghisti would like a new constitution alongrnthe lines of Swiss federalism. The country would be dividedrninto three republics of the North, Center, and South, whichrnwould function like Swiss cantons and maintain considerablernautonomy in political, cultural, and economic affairs. Althoughrnregional and local autonomy is part of Bossi’s originalrnconception, the Swiss flavor of the three republics owes somethingrnto Cianfranco Miglio, a senator and political scientist oftenrndescribed as the Lega’s ideologue, even though he is technicallyrnindependent.rnMiglio has spent much of his professional life analyzing therndeficiencies of the Italian constitution and proposing suchrnremedies as a directly elected president and large autonomousrnregions. In his most recent book, Come cambiare, Miglio oncernagain defends his idea of a federal system of macroregionsrnand of a new Unione italiana that would give the peoples ofrnItaly the rights of self-determination guaranteed by the Helsinkirnagreement.rnI Jnder a federal system, the historic regions of Italy—Lombardia,rnIbscana, Veneto, etc.—would be able to assert theirrncultural identities without interference from bureaucrats importedrnfrom other parts of the country. Traditionally, Italiansrnhave accepted the imposition of senior officials from outsidernas a guarantee of impartiality, a custom that echoes the institutionrnof the podesta of the later Middle Ages. What disgustsrnmanv Northern Italians is the swarm of Southernrnbureaucrats, teachers, and policemen who have little or nornsympathy with the customs and traditions of Lombardia orrnPiemonte.rnIn general, the leghisti would like a newrnconstitution along the lines of Swiss federalism.rnThe country would be divided into threernrepublics of the North, Center, and South,rnwhich would function like Swiss cantonsrnand maintain considerable autonomy inrnpolitical, cultural, and economic affairs.rnOne key to the Lega’s growing popularity is its position onrnimmigration. In reasserting the cultural identity of its regions,rna federalized Italy would move to expel illegal aliens and tightenrnrestrictions on immigrants. Despite the popularity of thernLega’s stand on immigration, it—more than anything else—rnwas responsible for much of the bad press.rnThe really explosive issue, though, is not foreign immigration,rnbut domestic. Northern Italian hostility to Sicilians andrnother Southerners is proverbial. While much of the generalizedrnresentment is unjustified—Sicilians take jobs that Lombardsrnare unwilling to accept—it is also true that the Southernersrnhave brought their way of life with them, which includes revengernkillings, the drug trade, and their great criminal organizations,rnthe Mafia, the Camorra, and the ‘ndrangheta.rnItalian crime syndicates are no joke. In America we mightrnentertain the fantasy that the Genovescs or Gambinos are justrnlike Vito Corleone, but their cousins in Italy—the real Cor-rnIcone family, b’ the way—are lethal parasites upon the politicalrnand economic systems. Giorgio Bocca in La disUNITArnd’ltalia made plain for even the simplest readers what the situationrnis in the South: “connected” judges rigging acquittalsrnand token sentences; appeals judges overturning convictions;rnsequestered gangsters returning to Palermo and Naples to resumerntheir careers. Two honest judges in Palermo were compelledrnto meet in secret to prevent their colleagues from leakingrninformation to friends in the Mafia. One of them wasrnassassinated in 1983. More recently, the most famous anti-rnMafia judge in Italy, Giovanni Falcone, was the victim of arncar bomb powerful enough to have taken out a small village.rnEveryone has always known that the Mafia was instrumentalrnin delivering the Sicilian vote to the Christian Democrats.rnAmericans can hardly point a finger at the Italians, since itrnwas our own President, Franklin Rooseclt, who restored thernMafia after it had been effectiveh scotched, if not killed, byrnthe Fascists. Ever since the war, the Mafia has been a politicalrnfact of life in much of the South, and if the Christian Democratsrnwere going to succeed against the Communists, theyrncould not afford to be selective about their allies. But who isrnFEBRUARY 1993/1 3rnrnrn