Reportage
Where is the Lega? Few showed up for Salvini in Milan
Apart from the same tired, hackneyed script we have seen for ages, Salvini spoke of ‘remigration,’ but he watered down its true meaning: the mass deportation of migrants, including those with legal status.
The low numbers were the first thing that stood out. Despite a massive organizational effort by Matteo Salvini’s propaganda machine, the base of his Lega party simply did not answer their Captain’s call.
About 2,000 people joined the march, with just over twice that number gathering in Piazza Duomo. The iconic square remained largely empty, filled mostly with tourists and Milanese locals strolling peacefully, entirely oblivious to the political rally happening just steps away.
Everything had been carefully prepared since late morning. The stage was set, the slogan “Masters in our own home” was prominently displayed and multicolored posters were hung on the barricades around the stage with the day’s buzzwords: from border defense and the follies of Brussels to agriculture and an “energy revival” (i.e. nuclear power). Tractors and motorcycles were neatly lined up on one side of the square and propaganda booths were already up and running. “Patriotic kits” – a cap reading “Fearless,” a matching bracelet and an American football-style T-shirt printed with the number 18 to mark the event's date – were being handed out to absolutely anyone, including a Bangladeshi flower vendor eager to take a freebie home.
The soundtrack was rather peculiar, to put it mildly: ranging from Al Bano and Romina Power's evergreen hit “Felicità” to contemporary pop artist Achille Lauro, along with classics from Lucio Battisti and Ricchi e Poveri. Naturally, Loretta Goggi’s “Maledetta Primavera” was a mandatory feature.
Salvini took the stage around 5 p.m. He indulged in a highly optimistic assessment of the crowd’s size (“There are so many of you, make yourselves heard!” he urged the truly sparse audience) before thanking his friend Viktor Orbán, the now-former Hungarian leader who did not even send a video message following his resounding defeat in last weekend’s elections.
Then came the same tired, hackneyed script we have seen for ages: we must put an end to the European Union’s follies, from green policies to “woke” ideology; we stand with Italian farmers; let’s reopen the taps for Russian gas; let’s suspend the Stability Pact – all in the name of security and against the Islamization of the West. In short, there was nothing new under the sun, which, incidentally, was beating down hard on Saturday in Milan.
The issue of “remigration,” which had monopolized political controversies in the preceding days, popped up here and there. It appeared on a few march posters (proudly held up by the young Lega members from Busto Arsizio) and in a handful of speeches from the stage. At the start, just as right-wing TV host Mario Giordano was drawing cheers from the Lega faithful by shouting the forbidden word (“Remigration”) three times from the stage, two women showed in front of the cathedral carrying peace flags and the Palestinian flag, wearing T-shirts that read “Milan is anti-fascist.” They were immediately surrounded and dragged away by officers from the DIGOS special police forces.
Naturally, Salvini also spoke of remigration – it was mandatory at that point. However, he watered down its true meaning – which is the mass deportation of migrants, including those with legal status – trying to reduce the term to a mere synonym for repatriation.
The Lega leader tried to explain to the audience that it was not about skin color, but about the inability to integrate – somewhat disappointing for those in the crowd who were likely hoping for a hearty “send them all home.” But it’s hard to get a read on what the party’s core constituency, the business owners in the Po Valley, actually think, since they simply cannot operate without foreign labor.
“This has been the first major street demonstration by the center-right, which is more and more united, since the referendum defeat,” Salvini tried to claim from the stage. But his “united” allies were nowhere to be seen in the square.
Brothers of Italy stayed dead silent. Forza Italia made no secret of its hostility toward a pro-remigration rally (even as it was hypocritically voting in parliament in Rome for an amendment to the security decree that is racist at its core) and instead headed to a different square in Milan to meet with second-generation immigrants – an initiative originated by Forza Italia’s chief of immigration in the city and later blessed by the party's top brass.
In the end, we are left with only one image from the Piazza Duomo event: that of the Lega leader increasingly isolated, abandoned by his allies and barely supported even by his own people. And tired, too. Tired and alone. For now – but only that. it is not over yet.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/milano-il-popolo-leghista-non-si-vede-in-pochi-seguono-salvini on 2026-04-19