Principality of Seborga
{{Short description|Unrecognised micronation in northwest Italy}}
{{About|the micronation in Italy|the town|Seborga}}
{{Infobox micronation
| conventional_long_name = Principality of Seborga
| common_name = Seborga
| native_name = {{Native name|it|Principato di Seborga}}
{{Native name|lij|Prinçipatu de A Seborca}}
| general =
| coordinates = {{coord|43|50|N|7|42|E|region:IT|display=inline,title}}
| image_map = Map of Seborga (Italian Comune & Micronation).svg
| map_caption = Map the Italian Comune of Seborga and the Principality of Seborga marked in red within Europe
| area_km2 = 14
| ethnic_groups =
| leader_name1 = *Giorgio I (1963–2009)
- Marcello I (2010–2019)
- Nina (2019–present)|
| established_date1 = 1963
| area_acre =
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| official_website = {{url|https://www.principatodiseborga.com}}
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}}
The Principality of Seborga ({{langx|it|Principato di Seborga}}, Ligurian: Prinçipâtu de Seburca) is an unrecognised micronation that claims a {{convert|14|km2|mi2 acre|abbr=on|adj=on}} area located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border, and about {{convert|35|km|mi|-1}} from Monaco.{{cite news |title=Obituary: His Tremendousness Giorgio Carbone |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/6671765/His-Tremendousness-Giorgio-Carbone.html |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=The Telegraph |date=27 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201012903/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/6671765/His-Tremendousness-Giorgio-Carbone.html |archive-date=1 December 2009|url-status=live}} The principality is coextensive with the comune of Seborga; assertions of sovereignty were instigated in 1963 by a local campaigner based on unproven claims about territorial settlements made by the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars.
History
File:Antica frontiera di seborga.JPG
The claim of sovereignty for Seborga was put forward in 1963 by a Seborgan former flower grower named Giorgio Carbone. He claimed to have found documents from the Vatican archives which, according to Carbone, indicated that Seborga had never been a possession of the House of Savoy and was therefore not legitimately included in the Kingdom of Italy when it was formed in 1861 during Italian unification. Carbone claimed that Seborga had existed as a sovereign state of Italy since 954, and that from 1079 it was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Sovereignty claims assert that Seborga was overlooked by the Congress of Vienna in its redistribution of European territories after the Napoleonic Wars.{{cite book |last1=Klieger |first1=P. Christiaan |title=The Microstates of Europe: Designer Nations in a Post-Modern World |date=29 November 2012 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-7427-2 |page=177 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CrfwGa4aCwYC&pg=PA177 |access-date=17 January 2021 |language=en}}
Carbone promoted the idea of Seborgan independence as a principality, and in 1963 the town's inhabitants elected him as their putative head of state. Carbone assumed the style and title His Tremendousness (Sua Tremendità) Giorgio I, Prince of Seborga.{{cite web |title=Prince of Seborga fights on for 362 subjects {{!}} Liguria {{!}} ITALY Magazine |url=http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/liguria/prince-seborga-fights-362-subjects/ |website=The Telegraph |access-date=17 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119012259/http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/liguria/prince-seborga-fights-362-subjects/ |archive-date=19 November 2010 |date=15 June 2006}} He formed a "cabinet" of ministers; minted a local currency, the luigino; introduced a Seborgan flag, a white cross on a blue background; and established a Latin motto, {{lang|lt|Sub Umbra Sede}} (Sit in the shade).
Carbone's campaign has generally not been taken seriously and is widely viewed as a ruse to attract tourists to the town, although his supporters in the town claim that their small state has been recognised by Burkina Faso.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/anneli-rufus/seborga-the-micronation-i_b_5760864.html|title=Seborga: The Micronation Inside Italy Where Time Stands Still|date=11 September 2014|author=Anneli Rufus|publisher=HuffPost|access-date=5 May 2018}}
In January 2006, Carbone announced that he would abdicate on reaching the age of 70, apparently as a result of a row over rebuilding the village centre, but he didn't and continued to hold the office until his death.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article718377.ece "Wanted: prince to rule village"], Richard Owen, The Times, 24 January 2006 Even so, this decision was the subject of a feature on the BBC World Service radio programme World Today on 25 January 2006.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/worldtoday/news/story/2006/01/060116_wtselect_wk3.shtml "The best of the World Today"], BBC, 16 January 2006
Giorgio Carbone retained his ceremonial position until his death on 25 November 2009 (age 73), due to complications due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The position of the Serborgan "monarch" is not hereditary, and since Carbone's death, elections have been held in Seborga every seven years among the town's 200 registered voters.{{cite news |last1=Squires |first1=Nick |title=Radio DJ from West Sussex vies to become next leader of tiny self-declared principality in Italy |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/18/british-dj-west-sussex-vies-become-next-leader-tiny-self-declared/ |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=The Telegraph |date=18 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111222517/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/18/british-dj-west-sussex-vies-become-next-leader-tiny-self-declared/ |archive-date=11 November 2020|url-status=live}} Carbone was succeeded by businessman Marcello Menegatto, who was elected on 25 April 2010 and crowned on 22 May 2010 as His Serene Highness (Sua Altezza Serenissima or SAS) Prince Marcello I.[http://seborgatimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/seborga-will-crown-his-new-elected.html Seborga Times], Article "Seborga will crown his new elected Prince: Menegatto I"{{cite web |title=S.A.S. il Principe di Seborga |url=https://www.principatodiseborga.com/pds/s-a-s-il-principe-di-seborga |website=Principato di Seborga |access-date=28 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928091926/https://www.principatodiseborga.com/pds/s-a-s-il-principe-di-seborga |archive-date=28 September 2019 |language=it-IT|url-status=dead}} Menegatto was re-elected as Prince on 23 April 2017, after an unsuccessful challenge to the position by Mark Dezzani, a British-born radio DJ who had lived in Seborga for nearly 40 years.
On 12 April 2019, Menegatto abdicated from his position,[https://www.principatodiseborga.com/pds/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lettera-di-dimissioni-del-Principe-Marcello.pdf Letter of resignation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928091926/https://www.principatodiseborga.com/pds/s-a-s-il-principe-di-seborga |date=2019-09-28 }} on principatodiseborga.com and he was succeeded by his ex-wife, Nina Menegatto, who was elected by the town as Her Serene Highness Princess Nina on 10 November 2019.{{cite news|last=Vogt|first=Andrea |title='Her Tremendousness' elected leader of self-declared micro-nation on hilltop in Italy |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/10/tremendousness-elected-leader-self-declared-micro-nation-hilltop/|access-date=11 November 2019|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=10 November 2019}}
List of Seborgan monarchs
= False titles =
{{See also|False titles of nobility|Pretender}}
There have been pretenders to the Seborgan throne, which include such pretenders as the self-styled "Princess" Yasmine von Hohenstaufen Anjou Plantagenet,{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Malcolm |author1-link= |title=Battle rages for His Tremendousness's throne {{!}} Italy {{!}} Europe {{!}} International News {{!}} News {{!}} Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/13/wsebo13.xml |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=The Telegraph |date=13 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311031813/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/13/wsebo13.xml |archive-date=11 March 2007|url-status=dead}} and Nicolas Mutte, a French writer.{{cite news |title=Ruler of self-declared principality on the Italian Riviera faces 'coup d'etat' from rival |first=Nick |last=Squires |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/21/ruler-of-self-declared-principality-on-the-italian-riviera-faces/ |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=The Telegraph |date=22 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622124827/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/21/ruler-of-self-declared-principality-on-the-italian-riviera-faces/ |archive-date=22 June 2016|url-status=live}}
Yasmine von Hohenstaufen wrote to Italy's president and offered to return the principality to the state on June 13, 2006.{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |date=13 June 2006 |title=Battle rages for His Tremendousness's throne {{!}} Italy {{!}} Europe {{!}} International News {{!}} News {{!}} Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/13/wsebo13.xml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311031813/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/13/wsebo13.xml |archive-date=11 March 2007 |access-date=16 October 2024 |website=The Telegraph}}
Seborga today
Seborga's independence claims continue today, and an official Principato di Seborga website asserts the historical arguments put forward by Carbone.{{cite web |title=Why we are independent|url=https://www.principatodiseborga.com/en/why-we-are-independent|website=Principality of Seborga|language=en}} Seborga claims to maintain a volunteer border guard, the Corpo delle Guardie. Participants wear a blue-and-white uniform and during the tourist season they stand guard at sentry boxes on the unofficial border crossing on the main road into Seborga.{{cite web |title=Le Guardie |url=https://www.principatodiseborga.com/pds/guardie |website=Principato di Seborga |access-date=17 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109093713/https://www.principatodiseborga.com/pds/guardie|archive-date=9 January 2021 |language=it-IT}}
The unrecognised micronation that claims Seborga Town understands that the town still falls directly within the laws and borders of Italy.{{Cite web |author=Jacopo Prisco |title=Seborga: The Italian village that wants to be a country |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-village-seborga-country/index.html |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=CNN |language=en}}
= Currency =
Seborga's local currency, the Seborga luigino, is divided into 100 centesimi. Luigini coins circulate in Seborga alongside the euro. The currency has no value outside of the town. The value of the luigino is pegged to the US dollar at SPL{{nbsp}}1 = USD{{nbsp}}6.00.{{cite web|url=https://www.principatodiseborga.com/en/the-luigini|title=The luigini|website=Principality of Seborga|language=en}} On 20 August 2023 the Principality presented the first banknote ever of the luigini.{{cite web|url=https://www.principatodiseborga.com/2023/08/p=9466|title=Festa di San Bernardo 2023 / Resoconto della giornata, rassegna stampa, foto, video – Presentata la prima banconota della storia del Principato di Seborga|website=Principality of Seborga|language=en}}
= Population =
As of 1 January 2018, Seborga had a population of 297 people, with 146 males and 151 females.{{Cite web|url=http://demo.istat.it/pop2018/index3.html|title=Statistiche demografiche ISTAT|website=demo.istat.it|series=Imperia|access-date=2019-03-21|archive-date=2019-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630220127/http://demo.istat.it/pop2018/index3.html|url-status=dead}} As of 2021, the population of Seborga has gone down to 217 people.
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |first=Eugène |last=Caïs de Pierlas |title=I Conti di Ventimiglia, il priorato di San Michele ed il principato di Seborga |location=Turin |publisher=G. B. Paravia |year=1884}}
External links
{{Commonscat|Principality of Seborga}}
{{Wikivoyage|Seborga}}
- {{in lang|it}} {{Official website|https://www.principatodiseborga.com}}
- {{Official website|seborgatimes.blogspot.com|Official English-language blog}}
- {{in lang|it}} [http://gazzettadiseborga.com/ La Gazzetta di Seborga] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129043443/https://gazzettadiseborga.com/|date=November 29, 2022}}
{{Micronations}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seborga, Principality Of}}
Category:Secessionist towns and cities