Insubria

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Insubria is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in the past by the Insubres, a Celtic people which dwelt in the 4th-5th century B.C. in the area of pre-Alpine lakes and Milan. Polybius claims the Insubres founded the city of Milan around 600 B.C. Secondarily the name can refer to the Duchy of Milan (1395-1810).

The name Insubres is visible in the middle portion of the Tabula Peutingeriana. Therefore for several centuries this name stood for an area stretching approximately between the Adda river in the East and the Sesia river in the West, and between the San Gottardo Pass in the North and the Po river in the South. Thus it was a synonym of the Milan region and the countryside areas gravitating towards it.

The symbol of Insubria (when conceived as the Duchy of Milan) is the Milanese Ducal flag, the Visconti child-swallowing serpent quartere[[with the Imperial eagle. For further details, see the Duchy of Milan.


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[edit] The Regio Insubrica Euroregion

In the present day the meaning of the term Insubria is perceived as more restricted, as it indicates the territory of the cross-boundary cooperation community Regio Insubrica, which was set up in 1995 by the provinces of Varese, Como, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and the Ticino Canton, that is to say the lakes area between Italy and Switzerland where the Italian language is spoken. The Regio Insubrica was recently extended to the territories of the provinces of Novara and Lecco.

It is a "Euroregion" (complying with the Madrid Agreement by the Council of Europe) which promotes cross-boundary cooperation in the Italian-Swiss region of the three pre-Alpine lakes (i.e. Lake Como, Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore). For further details, see the "Regio Insubrica" entry.

[edit] Linguistics

From an ethno-linguistic viewpoint Insubria also comprises the Provinces of Novara, Lecco, Milan and Lodi, that is those areas in which the Western Lombard or Insubrian dialect is spoken and which correspond to the territory of the former Duchy of Milan until its takeover by the Habsburg Empire as a result of the Baden Treaty in 1714 or, better said, of the Campoformio Treaty (1797) which marks the end of the first Austrian dominatio.

[edit] Modern and contemporary uses

The word "Insubria" was considered for long a mere synonym of Lombardy, especially in the Ducal age, that is from the late Middle Ages to Renaissance.

From the 14th to the 17th century, among the men of letters at the Milan Ducal Court, the terms "Insubre" and "Insubria" were used to give awareness of unity and a higher national identity to the still vital autonomous communes.

"Insubria" thus denoted the core of the then extensive Duchy of Milan, as testified in the writings of Benzo d'Alessandria, Giovanni Simonetta, Bernardino Corio and Andrea Alciato. Still in the 17th century Gabriele Verri reaffirmed that concept using the following motto, which he placed as a heading in all his works: "Insubres sumus, non latini".

In 1797, following the occupation of the Duchy of Milan by the French, Napoleon I had the Milan mint strike a commemorative medal with the dedication "All'Insubria Libera" ("To The Free Insubria") and an allegory of the French Republic, which was represented as a woman wearing a headpiece and helped on the right hand by Peace who places the Phrygian cap onto Insubria's head. Insubria is led by a putto and has a horn of plenty at her feet.

In the Thirties a review called "Insubria" was published, whose aim was promoting tourism and culture of the pre-Alpine lakes area.

The term fell into oblivion until the Nineties, when Insubria came into favour again because of a series of events taking place. The first of those events was the founding (in 1995) of the above mentioned "Regio Insubrica", a cross-boundary cooperation community whose aim is to promote the cultural, economic and social elements which draw the Italian Switzerland and the border provinces together.

The "La Prealpina" newspaper, followed by other ones, added a daily page headed "Insubria" reporting local political news.

In 1996 the Terra Insubre Cultural Association was officially set up in Varese; its purposes are the spreading and promotion of the history and natural environment of the Insubrian territory to a vast audience. At present (2006) the Association has got about 1500 members, two detached branches (Milan and Marcallo con Casone) as well as a quarterly review also named Terra Insubre.

In those same years (i.e. 14th July, 1998) the University of Insubria was set up as the University pole of the towns of Varese and Como.

[edit] Insubrism

In recent years some politicians began to debate the possibility of institutionally constituting Insubria and/or gaining its political autonomy. However, as of today there exist no political parties striving for that goal, but only some cultural and opinion movements.

At the beginning of 2002 the "Movimento degli Indipendenti Insubrici" ("Insubrian Independents Movement") was constituted in the Ticino Canton, and later in the Graubünden Canton. It was led by Werner Nussbaumer, a physician from Gravesano, former member of the Greens and known for his actions aimed at promoting Cannabis Indica for therapeutical purposes.

The "Indipendenti Insubrici" had Nussbaumer as their representative in the Gran Consiglio of the Ticino Canton from January 2003 to the following elections in the same year, though he had been originally elected in 1999 among the Greens. The president of the movement in the Insubrian Graubünden was Giancarlo Gruber. Following internal party problems and Nussbaumer's arrest on the 22th May, 2003, the group disappeared from the political scene.

The activities of "Domà Nunch" opinion group, the promoter of "El Dragh Bloeu" online review, started in 2005. The movement was officially presented in Piazza Insubria, Milan, on the 6th February, 2006. Domà Nunch has no institutional representatives, but it mainly organizes conferences and popular fairs; among them the "Giornata dell'Ambiente" ("Environment Day") which takes place in July and commemorates the ICMESA disaster at Seveso. In 2006 it was organized in Briosco and it also had the sponsorship of the municipal authorities.

Domà Nunch draws its inspiration from the principles of econationalism, that is to say a synthesis of environmentalism and requests for the protection of Insubrian cultural identity; it promotes the project of an Insubrian Confederation, based on the Swiss state model.

"Domà Nunch" could be translated from Insubric language as "Only Us" or "Only Our", "El Dragh Bloeu" as "The Blue Dragon".

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