Alpine village sets pace in Italy separatist upset

By Ian Simpson

CRESPADORO, Italy (Reuters) - Anger over Rome's taxes and fears about the impact of immigration are at the heart of why this Italian village has become an unlikely pace-setter in the electoral upset by the separatist Northern League.

Crespadoro, set among the tranquil Alpine foothills, gave the highest support anywhere, 53 percent, for the anti-immigrant League in polls this week.

The party became the powerful junior partner in the winning conservative coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi, elected prime minister for the third time.

On the village's piazza, framed by a playground and yellow stucco municipal offices, residents said they felt marginalized by the central government in Rome and expressed worries about everything from immigration to potholes.

"We've been abandoned. We're paying for the air we breathe. We get no help," said Gino Ferrarri, a 69-year-old pensioner and longtime League supporter.

Gianpietro Dalla Costa, head of a 10-town district council, said the result was more than just protest votes.

"It's a vote of hope that something will change, that some things will get better in this area that feels so cast away," he said as thick clouds hung over distant snow-capped mountains.

Umberto Bossi, firebrand leader of the League, who once suggested the navy should shoot across the bows of migrant boat people, scored about 8 percent in the vote, nearly double the level in 2006 elections.