When creating the Lombardian League, Umberto Bossi took over an old symbol of the Risorgimento, the Oath of Pontida, and perverted its meaning. The annual commemoration of this historic episode results in a large assembly near the village of Pontida (Lombardy) and intends to invoke a virtual nation, Padania, against an Italy now conceived as being centralist and imperialist. On the basis of this overthrow of symbols, the Lega Nord develops the expression of a true nationalism in reverse and carries confusion into the very heart of Italian institutions.