©april 2022
Rose Island was built in 1967 by Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa, just outside of Italy’s territorial waters. Rosa proclaimed himself president and declared the independence of ‘Respubliko de la Insulo de la Rozoj’ on 24th June, 1968.
Giorgio rosa
24th June, 1968
Area claimed
0.0004KM2
Man
Platform symbol of
freedom and openminded
made
Rose island
Construction
MAY 1968
Construction
To be precise, it was 1 May 1968 when this 400-sqm stilt house built over the water on a structure of steel tubes.
Architecture
A manmade work at 6.27 nautical miles off the coast and thus 500 metres outside Italian national waters.
unchained
And free
Micronation
This manmade platform was intended as a kind of utopia after Thomas More: a model, free micro-nation detached from the Italian state. It had its own flag, its own currency (the Mill), Its own postage stamps and even its own official auxiliary language, Esperanto.
Esperanta respubliko
Insulo rozoj
The papers soon picked up on the story, which was on everybody’s lips not least because of the myths that were swirling around it.
JUNE 1969
Word had it that the island was a haven for casinos, bordellos and a pirate radio station. That it was the hub of an international spy ring. That it was even a Soviet submarine base.
Although no evidence of any of this was ever found, of course, Rosa’s dream was dead in the water. Not even two months after the official opening, the harbourmaster and the finance police surrounded the island on 25 June 1968,.
In February 1969, Italian navy divers began work to demolish it, deploying kilos of explosives. But even a second blast was enough to sink it, and a storm on 26 February 1969 to finish the job.
The end
