Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Comebacks & Kickbacks
A postwar manufacturing boom produced yet another growth spurt and change was in the
air. In 1963 Umberto Eco, chafing against the conformity and insularity of Italian intellec-
tual life, co-founded the avant-garde literary group Gruppo 63. The year 1968 brought dis-
sent, free love and psychedelic fashions to Milan's students. The Quadrilatero d'Oro be-
came synonymous with the fashion industry. At the same time, growing income gaps and
mass migration from southern Italy inflamed underlying tensions and old political rivalries.
Brigade Rosse terrorism and repressive anti-terror laws created further turmoil, giving rise
to extremist groups like the right-wing Lega Nord (Northern League).
The glamorous '80s and '90s brought stability to Milan, or so it seemed. Corruption and
organised crime mushroomed behind closed doors until the Tangentopoli (or 'kickback
city') scandals broke in 1992. Milanese judges opened investigations and trials implicating
thousands of northern politicians and high-flyers in a panoply of white-collar crimes. Led
by judge Antonio di Pietro, the trials came to be known as Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) and
rocked the political and business establishment.
Many spoke of the coming of a new republic, as traditional parties such as the centre-
right conservative Catholic Democrazia Cristiana and centre-left Partito Socialista Italiano
(PSI) crumbled. PSI chief and former prime minister Bettino Craxi chose exile in Tunisia
rather than face the courts. An old pal of his, Milan business magnate Silvio Berlusconi,
saw his political opportunity and launched his Forza Italia (Go Italy!) campaign. He was
elected prime minister in 1994 with the support of an equally colourful character from near
Varese - Umberto Bossi.
Bossi's Lega Nord (Northern League), founded in the 1980s on a narrow anti-immigra-
tion, anti-Rome and pro-secession (now watered down to devolution) platform, quickly
pulled the rug from under Berlusconi's feet by withdrawing from the coalition, but stood
with him again in his election victories of 2001 and 2008. Although the Lega Nord often
wins as much as 20% of the vote in northern Italy, most northern cities (apart from Milan)
have tended to vote centre-left. Recent exceptions to that rule have been Verona and Bres-
cia, although in 2013 elections Brescia swung back to the centre-left. Likewise, Milan
voted in its first ever centre-left mayor Giuliano Pisapia (a former communist) in 2011, a
result that dealt a devastating blow to Berlusconi who considers the city his home turf.
