He Built His Own Country in the Sea. Why Did the Government Send the Navy to Blow It Up?

In 1968, seven miles off the coast of Rimini, Italy, an engineer named Giorgio Rosa did something every government on Earth says you can’t do. He built his own country.

Not a hippie. Not a rebel. A 43-year-old engineer from Bologna who simply hated asking for permission. With a sextant, a homemade steel boat and his own money, he found a spot in the Adriatic Sea just past the line where Italy’s laws stopped. Then he built a platform on land, floated it out, and sank it on purpose — so it would stand on its own in the open sea.

He drilled almost a thousand feet down and found fresh water. He opened a bar and a post office. And on May 1st, 1968, he declared independence: the Esperanto Republic of Rose Island. With its own flag, its own stamps, its own currency and its own government.

For 55 days, Italy didn’t even know it existed.

Then the police came. Then the courts. Then Parliament — where the far right and the communists finally agreed on something. And finally, the Navy, with more than a ton of explosives.

But the island had one more surprise left.

So how do you build a country in the middle of the sea? And why did an entire nation go to war with a platform the size of one and a half tennis courts?

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CHAPTERS

0:00 – Cold Open
0:59 – The Man Who Hated Permission
3:59 – Sink It on Purpose
7:37 – Italy Knew
11:10 – A Country Nobody Knew About
14:51 – Seven O’Clock
18:43 – The Well
21:14 – A Fortress, Not an Island
24:12 – The Sea

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SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Wikipedia — Republic of Rose Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Rose_Island
Wikipedia (Italian) — Isola delle Rose: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isola_delle_Rose
Netflix — Rose Island (L’incredibile storia dell’Isola delle Rose), 2020

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