Addii

Bossi, crowd of militants at Pontida for the salute to the Senatur

The attack on Salvini. From the early hours of the morning the Leghist people are at the abbey of San Giacomo amidst choirs and green flags

by Rome Editorial Staff

22 March 2026

Centinaio: Bossi diceva 'Bello dell'Italia è che non siamo tutti uguali'

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Militant choirs
Militants' attack on Salvini: Judas kiss, traitor
Homily: living detachment with faith
Giorgetti and Renzo Bossi readings
Castelli, Bossi's legacy betrayed, today's Lega is something else
Romeo, the League takes up the northern issue
Molinari, Salvini held high the banner of federalism and autonomy
Monti and Santanchè

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

From the early hours of the morning the Leghist people are at the Abbey of San Giacomo, in Pontida, for the last farewell to Umberto Bossi. A people's funeral, as desired by the family. Four hundred people are inside the abbey. From outside, the ceremony was followed from the big screen. Among the first to arrive were the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, and the Senate group leader, Massimiliano Romeo. Also attending the funeral were Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Senate President Ignazio La Russa, House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana, and Deputy Prime Ministers Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani. Also present were Minister Roberto Calderoli, Chamber of Deputies group leader Roberto Molinari, Trento Province President Maurizio Fugatti, and former Minister Roberto Castelli, whom the crowd of militants greeted with applause. Applause for the Lega Lega governors arriving at the San Giacomo abbey in Pontida for Bossi's funeral. Former Veneto Region president Luca Zaia and Lombardy Region president Attilio Fontana.

L’addio al Senatur nell’abbazia di Pontida
Photogallery31 foto

Militant choruses

'Roma ladrona, il Nord non perdona' and 'Padania libera' are the choruses of the hundreds of militants lined up behind the barriers facing the church. The foulards and green shirts, the flags of the Lombard League with Alberto da Giussano, the shirts with the effigy of the Senatur dominate. At the side of the church a banner reads 'Thank you boss, your history will always live with us', signed by the Pontida section.

Militants' attack on Salvini: Judas kiss, traitor

More criticism for Matteo Salvini at the end of Umberto Bossi's funeral. At the end of Umberto Bossi's funeral in Pontida, the deputy premier and leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, approached the Senatur's wife, Manuela Marrone, and gave her a kiss on the head. "Judas kiss" and "traitor" were the cries of some militants among those who crowded the square in front of the abbey of San Giacomo today for the last farewell to the founder of the Carroccio.

The homily: living the detachment with faith

"Family and friends feel the lack and detachment. The word of Jesus heartens and encourages. From Jesus comes great hope," said Abbot Giordano Rota during his homily at Bossi's funeral. "We think of God as a superhero, but Jesus does not take away the burden of suffering, he does something much greater: he shares all this with us. He does not take away what bothers us, but He saves us from death. The pain remains, but we know that He is with us," said the abbot. "With faith we want to live this moment of parting from our brother Umberto. I think of his family and closest friends who, it seems, are many and we see him today. To live this moment with faith means finding that new channel to relate with him', that is, 'prayer. Prayer for his soul that now comes before God. Let us pray for him today, but also in the coming days: this is a way to feel him close again. May our life end with a deep adherence of faith. Let us continue this celebration, promising to continue to pray for our brother Umberto and for his soul,' emphasised the abbot of St James' Monastery.

Giorgetti and Renzo Bossi readings

Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti read the first reading during the funeral of the Lega Lega's founder. For the second reading, Renzo Bossi approached the microphone and walked up to the altar with his brothers Eridano Sirio and Roberto Libertà. The funeral was celebrated by Abbot Giordano Rota. In the front row sat on one side the Presidents of the Chambers, Ignazio La Russa and Lorenzo Fontana, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Vice-Premiers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, and on the other side the Senatur's family members.

Castelli, Bossi's legacy betrayed, today's Lega is something else

'Bossi's is a legacy betrayed. I hope that today's day can be a starting point for those Lega people who no longer recognise themselves in the centralist politics of this new party, which is something else. A very sad day but also a day of hope,' said Roberto Castelli, promoter of the Popular Party of the North, in the abbey churchyard. 'There is a northern question that needs to be taken up again with more vigour,' Castelli stressed, 'Salvini's League is not the League that you see here today, it is something else. It has kept the name, but only that'.

Centinaia i militanti all'abbazia di San Giacomo per i funerali di Umberto Bossi, il leader della Lega scomparso a 84 anni, Pontida, 22 marzo 2026. ANSA/MICHELE MARAVIGLIA

Romeo, the League will take up the Northern issue

"The League must continue along the road it has mapped out, which is that of thinking of a national party, where, however, the issue of the North must be taken up again with more strength, with more vigour,' Carroccio group leader in the Senate, Massimiliano Romeo, said today on the sidelines of the funeral of founder Umberto Bossi, who passed away at the age of 84. The Northern question 'is still open' because 'there is a revolution to be concluded and that is what we will continue to carry forward,' Romeo stressed. 'I am the representative of the Lombard League and on me lies the great responsibility of carrying on this battle. The autonomy of the territories at the national level 'has always been a little bit in our line'. 'Today the times are more mature, however, but we certainly cannot forget what is a hot, live issue, which is the northern question,' Romeo emphasises, 'which unfortunately has not yet been resolved. We are moving forward along this road'.

Molinari, Salvini held high the banner of federalism and autonomy

"If today the northern regions can discuss new statutes and new devolutions of competences with the central state, it is thanks to a reform made in this legislature, that of differentiated autonomy, in the wake of Bossi's thinking,' said the Lega Nord's group leader at the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Molinari, according to whom 'Matteo Salvini has held high the banner of federalism and autonomy'. For Molinari, therefore, there is no distinction between Bossi's League and the current one. 'The two are absolutely not at odds, the Lega's mission, the founding pillar of the Lega, continues to be federalism, autonomy and the northern question. Today is not the day for polemics'.

Contested Monti and Santanchè

Former Prime Minister Mario Monti arrived by surprise at Pontida to attend the funeral of Umberto Bossi. He was challenged by Lega militants: 'Shame on you', 'Go away', 'Sold out'. and other insults as he climbed the steps of the San Giacomo abbey. Among the institutional figures being contested was the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, who had arrived shortly before, to whom a militant shouted 'shame on you'.