Antonio Guadagnini (

Bassano del Grappa Bassano del Grappa ( or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Province of Vicenza, Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Va ...

, 25 August 1966) is an Italian politician. Guadagnini joined

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

(DC) in the late 1980s and, after that party's dissolution in 1994, he joined a score of centre-right Christian-democratic parties,

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(AN) and, finally, the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre (, UdC), whose complete name is Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lorenzo Cesa is the part ...

(UDC). As UDC member and deputy-mayor of

Crespano del Grappa Crespano del Grappa is a small town and a ''frazione'' of Pieve del Grappa in the province of Treviso, Veneto region of Italy. As of 2007 Crespano del Grappa had an estimated population of 4,680. History Crespano del Grappa was a separate ''comu ...

, his hometown, he came to regional and national prominence for his request that municipalities would retain for themselves 20% of personal income tax. He was able to coalesce more than 400 mayors from all around Veneto and all political backgrounds on his proposal, which was anyway ignored by the Italian government.http://www.venetostato.org/2011/scoop-la-vera-storia-politica-di-antonio-guadagnini/ In 2009 Guadagnini stood as UDC candidate for the

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, but he was not elected. Increasingly marginalized within his party, he started to be interested in

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. ...

. Within the DC and the UDC, Guadagnini had been an ardent supporter of a Venetian centre-right party, independent from

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, so it was a logical choice for him to join

Liga Veneto Autonomo Liga Veneto Autonomo (Autonomous Veneto League, LVA) was a Venetist political party active in Veneto. LFV was formed in early 2010 by senior members of Liga Veneta Repubblica (LVR), notably including Giorgio Vido and Bortolino Sartore, in the ...

(LVA) first and, finally, Veneto State (VS). Guadagnini was soon chosen as the party's candidate for President of the

Province of Treviso The province of Treviso () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso. The province is surrounded by Province of Belluno, Belluno in the north, Province of Vicenza, Vicenza in the west, Pro ...

in the 2011 provincial election. In the election he won just 1.5% of the vote and did better in the eastern part of the province (traditionally a stronghold 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 ...

–

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 ...

), and especially in Crespano del Grappa (8.9%),

Paderno del Grappa Paderno del Grappa is a small town and a ''frazione'' of Pieve del Grappa, a comune in the province of Treviso, in the Veneto region in Italy. Paderno del Grappa is located at the base of Mount Grappa, in the mountain range of the Venetian Preal ...

(5.2%), Fonte (4.9%) and Borso del Grappa (3.6%). In October 2011, during a party congress in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, he was elected secretary of VS, succeeding to Lodovico Pizzati. Having led the party into the Independence We Veneto (INV) coalition (in support of

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 ...

's re-election for

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) and stood as a candidate in the 2015 regional election and was elected to 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 ...

from the provincial constituency of Vicenza. Soon after being installed, Guadagnini, who was also appointed Secretary of the Council, formed a pro-independence "inter-group", which was joined from the start by Stefano Valdegamberi, a former fellow UDC member who had been re-elected councillor in Zaia's personal list, and Massimiliano Barison of

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 ...

. In 2016 he left INV and launched We Are Veneto (SV). Guadagnini holds two master's degrees, one in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and one in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and is a devout

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guadagnini, Antonio 1966 births Living people People from the Province of Vicenza Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Union of the Centre (2002) politicians Venetist politicians Members of the Regional Council of Veneto Venetian independence activists