Giorgio Barone or Giorgio 1, Prince of Seborga, otherwise known as “la sua Tremendità” [“your Tremendousness”] departed his “princedom” and this world on Wednesday. The 73-year-old “prince” leaves no heirs so his successor will be elected in two months’ time.
In the early 1960s Barone, head of the local flower-growing co-operative, began to claim that Seborga [Liguria] had never been listed as part of Italy under the 1861 Unification of the country and was therefore an independent state. Subsequently, in 1963, he got himself elected “prince” of the 14-square –kilometer “country”. Thereafter he proceeded to have almost as much fun as the folk of San Marino.
Barone introduced a currency, the linguino, which has no value outside Seborga, plus stamps and even a flag. St Bernard was made patron saint of the town and its motto became “Sub Umbra Sede” [Sit in the shade].
The Italian government never took Barone or his claims seriously but surprisingly there was no tension between His Tremendousness and the Italian State: the citizens of Seborga went on paying their State taxes and voting in State elections and the Italian government went on providing public services as it does elsewhere.
The Seborghini apparently saw no contradiction in functioning as full-fledged Italian citizens and voting in favour of their separate constitution and for independence from Italy, as they did in 1995. In 2006 Barone tried to push again for independence and his supporters planned their own pensions and health policies.
The Seborghini earn their living from the cultivation and export of flowers and, of course, from tourism. A favourite pastime of the late prince’s “subjects” is painting their national crest on the road at what they regard as their “border post” with Italy. The Italian authorities – spoilsports – keep tarmacking over it.
Seborga: does the town really have a claim to independence or is it all a gimmick? Let us know your thoughts.
