Milan council has appealed against a “grotesque” move to rename the city’s main airport after the scandal-tainted late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The council approved a resolution to take the case to the Lombardy region’s administrative court after the initiative to rename Malpensa was accelerated by Matteo Salvini, the transport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government.

Salvini has been pushing for the airport to be named after Berlusconi since the billionaire media magnate’s death in June last year and approved the plan this summer after it was given the green light by Enac, Italy’s civil aviation authority.

There is normally a mandatory 10-year wait after a person’s death before a public place can be named after them.

Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, claimed Salvini had made the move without involving SEA, the company that manages the airport, or the local councils in its vicinity. He also accused Enac of succumbing to pressure from rightwing politicians.

The leader of the centre-left Democratic party in Lombardy, Pierfrancesco Majorino, said Milan’s council had made “an important and unforeseen choice”.

“The council, together with other municipal administrations in the area, will not stand by and watch in the face of a grotesque and needlessly divisive act desired by Salvini and the Meloni government,” he said.

Thousands of people signed a petition calling on the government to stop the plan and there have also been protests against it.

In response to the appeal, Salvini wrote on X: “Even after his death, the hate and rancour towards Berlusconi doesn’t stop.”

Berlusconi was born in Milan and died in the city last year at the age of 86. Forza Italia, the party he founded, is a partner in Meloni’s ruling coalition.

The decision to give Berlusconi a state funeral also caused an outcry in Italy, as did the government’s approval of a postage stamp marking the first anniversary of his death.