The Venetian autonomy referendum of 2017 took place on 22 October in

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The poll was not binding, but it might have consequences in terms of negotiations between the Italian government and Veneto as the regional government declared that it would ask for more

devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

powers whether fthe "yes" won. According to Mario Bertolissi, law professor and advisor to the regional government, the referendum would have "constituent power". Others considered it pointless while supporters of unitarianism in Italy counter-productive. As expected, the "yes" vote did succeed. Turnout was 57.2% and 98.1% of participants voted "yes".

Background

The referendum date was announced in April 2017 by

President of Veneto President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsidente ...

Luca Zaia Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is an Italian politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010, and a historical member of Lega Nord, other than being the most Progressivism in the United States, progressive member of his own party. Suppor ...

after decades of debates and efforts by supporters of

Venetian nationalism Venetian nationalism (also Venetism, 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. ...

, which rose to prominence in the 1980s–1990s. Both in 1992 and 2000, the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

had rejected proposals for similar referendums brought forward by the

Regional Council of Veneto The Regional Council of Veneto () is the parliament, legislative assembly of Veneto, Italy. The council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal (Venice), Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when Re ...

. In 2014, Plebiscito.eu, a minor Venetist organisation and supposedly cross-party committee, organised an online unofficial

independence referendum An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an Independence, independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independenc ...

. Following that episode, the Region tried to hold an official one by voting a related bill. In June 2015, the Constitutional Court ruled the independence referendum out as contrary to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, but it authorised one of the five autonomy referendums proposed by the Region ("Do you want further forms and special conditions of autonomy to be attributed to the Region of Veneto?").

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, Italy's most populous region neighbouring to Veneto on the east, held a similar

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on 22 October.Referendum autonomia, l'annuncio di Maroni: "Il 22 ottobre in Lombardia e Veneto". Sala e Pd: "Spesa inutile"
Both Zaia and

President of Lombardy The president of Lombardy is the supreme authority of Lombardy, the most populated region of Italy. Election Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Lombardy, since 1995 '' de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by po ...

Roberto Maroni were members of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

(LN) and more specifically of

Liga Veneta Liga Veneta (; ; abbr. LV), whose complete name is (), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto. The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was established in 1979 under the slogan "farthe ...

and

Lega Lombarda Lega Lombarda (; abbr. LL), whose complete name is (), is a regionalism (politics), regionalist List of political parties in Italy, political party active in Lombardy. Established in 1984, it was one of the founding "national" sections of Lega ...

, respectively. The LN had always been a strong proponent of federal reform, but these referendums were supported also by the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( , M5S) is a political party in Italy, led by Giuseppe Conte. It was launched on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily d ...

Forza Italia (FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...

and more moderately the Democratic Party. ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' newspaper, which bet on the "yes" camp to prevail, also predicted that due to the perceived "anti-southern skew" of the vote the "national ambitions" of

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...

, LN federal secretary, would be negatively impacted by a resounding "yes" victory while Zaia could become the "future leader of the party". (However, Salvini not only remained party leader, but led the party to a success in the 2018 general election and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister in

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

References

{{Elections in Veneto 2017 elections in Italy

Autonomy referendums Elections in Veneto

Referendums in Italy Venetian nationalism

Background

See also

References