In 1967, Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa designed and funded the construction of a 400 square metre platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 km off the coast of Rimini, Italy, supported by nine pylons and furnished it with a number of amenities including a restaurant, a bar, a souvenir shop and a post office. He named the platform the Republic of Rose Island (Esperanto: Respubliko de la Insulo de la Rozoj), and proceeded to declare independence from Italy, pointing out that the platform was positioned just outside Italy's territorial waters and therefore not subject to its sovereignty. The experiment was short-lived: on 11 February 1969, the island was demolished by the Italian state.
There are other pages on the www
that go into more detail about the history, and why the platform was destroyed - I accept the official
story, that the Italian government viewed it as simply a crude tax dodge, but you can read elsewhere and decide for yourself.
There's even an interview with Rosa himself here -
http://rose-island.livenations.net/
At the suggestion of a friend, Rosa decided to declare Esperanto the official language of his "Republic", and to issue postage stamps in that language.
Two stamps were issued - the first, at top, shows the platform over a map indicating its location off the northeastern coast of Italy. The second, below, in three denominations, shows the platform being exploded!
There was an intermediate stamp "issue", with an Esperanto overprint - "Milita Itala okupado" - meaning "under Italian military occupation," presumably valid during the one day period between seizure by the authorities and destruction.
The stamps were never valid postage, since the "republic" was never a valid country, so the stamps are labels, or
poster stamps, or
cinderellas, and take their
rightful place on this web site.
If the ploy had succeeded, Rose Island would be the only country ever to declare Esperanto its official language!
What I find most amusing about the story is that some people today hold Rosa up as a champion of freedom, and insist his "republic" was valid.
Down with tyranny!
