Seborga

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Seborga
coat of arms
Seborga (Italy)
Seborga
Country Italy
region Liguria
province Imperia  (IM)
Coordinates 43 ° 50 '  N , 7 ° 42'  E Coordinates: 43 ° 49 '35 "  N , 7 ° 41' 40"  E
height 500  m slm
surface 4 km²
Residents 275 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 69 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 18012
prefix 0184
ISTAT number 008057
Popular name Seborghini
Patron saint San Martino
Website Seborga website
Center of Seborga
Center of Seborga

Seborga is an Italian municipality with 275 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the province of Imperia in Liguria and is a member of the association I borghi più belli d'Italia (The Most Beautiful Places in Italy). Seborga is part of the Berggemeinde Comunità Montana Intemelia . The community gained a certain prominence through the proclamation of the Principality of Seborga in 1993.

geography

Location of Seborga in Liguria

Seborga is located at approx. 500 m altitude in the hinterland of the Riviera of Flowers , between the coastal towns of Ospedaletti and Bordighera , approx. 45 km west of the provincial capital Imperia . The provincial road No. 57 connects Seborga with Bordighera and the exit of the A10 motorway of the same name . Neighboring communities are Ospedaletti, Perinaldo , Sanremo and Vallebona .

history

From the 8th century the area of ​​Seborga belonged to the county of Ventimiglia . The place was first mentioned as Castrum de Sepulchro in 954 in a document. This concerned the assignment of the village by Count Guido Guerra di Ventimiglia to the Benedictine monks of Lerins (France). The monks established a coin ( zecca ) in 1666 and minted silver coins based on the French model ( Luigi or Luigini ). However, minting was discontinued in 1687 because the coins were not widely used and their use was even prohibited in Savoy (1667) and Piedmont (1669). In 1729 the fiefdom of Seborga was sold by the Benedictines to the House of Savoy under Viktor Amadeus II. The current form of the name Seborga appears for the first time in the deed of sale. Together with the area of ​​today's province of Imperia, Seborga became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and, from 1860, part of the Italian state. On September 9, 1944, several Seborga buildings were badly damaged in fighting between the Wehrmacht and Italian partisans .

economy

The Seborga community lives mainly from agriculture ( olive cultivation , flowers, especially yellow mimosas and gorse ) and tourism.

Principality of Seborga

A group around the florist Giorgio Carbone († November 2009) tried since the 1960s by means of historical documents to prove that Seborga was not subject to state power at the Congress of Vienna or when the Italian Republic was founded in 1946 and therefore did not belong to the Italian state under international law . Seborga therefore kept the medieval status of a principality ( principato ) to this day. Carbone was renamed Giorgio I, Principe di Seborga (Georg I, Prince of Seborga). In 1993 he proclaimed the Principality of Seborga and appointed a government. Italy never took the declaration of independence seriously and took no legal action against it. The Italian legal system is valid in the entire municipality. Seborga has a consulate in Nigeria and Brazil and is viewed as sovereign by other micronations that are also not recognized internationally .

In terms of tourism, however, the small community benefited from the popularity it received from media reports on independence. Between 1994 and 1996 a copy of the old currency, the Luigino , was minted in Seborga, which is accepted as a substitute currency for shops within Seborga, but is not a legal tender . In addition, other souvenir items of the principality such as unofficial postage stamps , license plates and ID cards are issued that are recognized in Nigeria and Brazil.

As of 2010, the new “first man in the state”, elected for seven years, was called Marcello Menegatto. He planned to build a five-star hotel and golf course. In April 2017 Menegatto was re-elected for a further seven-year "term". In 2018 Marcello I resigned suddenly. In the election of a successor in November 2019, his ex-wife Nina Döbler-Menegatto - a native of the Allgäu from Kempten - competed against the daughter of Giorgio I, won with an overwhelming majority and is now elected for seven years.

Culture and sights

Chiesa di San Martino

The place shows a medieval city ​​layout on an approximately triangular floor plan. Remnants of the city ​​wall with four access gates have been preserved.

The Parochial Church ( Chiesa parrocchiale di San Martino ), consecrated to St. Martin and built between the 16th and 17th centuries, is located in the central square of the village . The baroque facade with murals from 1928 was restored in 2006. Next to it is the Palazzo dei monaci , a building that was acquired by the Benedictine monks in 1607 as a residence for stays in Seborga. It is now privately owned. References to the coinage are preserved in the lower part of the building. A small prayer chapel, the Oratorio di San Bernardo from the 13th century, is located at the entrance to the village.

Regular events

  • Festa di San Sebastiano - Festival on January 20th
  • Festa di Primavera - Easter festival
  • Festa di San Bernardo - Festival on August 20th with a folk parade
  • Festa di San Martino - Festival of the patron saint on November 11th with procession

Town twinning

photos

  • Palazzo dei monaci

  • Alley in Seborga

  • Exchange of the Luigino

Web links

Commons : Seborga  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  • Andrea Gandolfo: La provincia di Imperia: storia, arti, tradizioni , BLU Edizioni, 2005; ISBN 88-7904-011-1
  • Oliver Lück: News from the neighbor , rororo paperbacks, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, May 2012; ISBN 3-499-62841-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ^ I borghi più belli d'Italia. Borghipiubelliditalia.it, accessed July 25, 2017 (Italian).
  3. ^ Tiny Italian principality announces new monarch called 'His Tremendousness' . The Telegraph, April 27, 2010, accessed July 18, 2018
  4. ↑ Seborga in Liguria: A prince, 300 subjects. SPIEGEL Online May 31, 2012
  5. ↑ Seborga: The smallest principality in Europe , sueddeutsche.de, October 7, 2017, accessed on July 18, 2018
  6. ↑ https://www.bild.de/unterhaltung/royals/royals/seborga-deutsche-immobilienmaklerin-nina-menegatto-bald-italienische-prinzessin-71925320.bild.html NINA MENEGATTO NEW REGENTIN FROM SEBORGA. Suddenly Princess!