Inside the Village That Thinks It's a Country

Описание: Have you ever wanted to make a country? No, nor have I, but turns out that some people really do, and the countries they try to create tend to be called microstates. Unless you’re Kamal Ataturk or George Washington or something, then the country you make becomes a real thing and… yeah it’s complicated.

Either way, in the world of microstates there are plenty of stupid or fatuous independence claims that you may be aware of. But up in the northwest corner of Italy lies the tiny village of Seborga which – since the 1960s – has insisted it is not part of the country which surrounds it, and takes its claims to sovereignty very, very seriously.

It has its own monarchy, shadow government, license plates, border guards and even stamps. But… why? What prompted them to take the plunge and declare independence? How does the “country” function? And what is it like to visit? On a nice sunny day in March, I went to Seborga to find out.

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:50 Where am I?
02:15 Not really Italy
03:21 Seborga's claims
06:55 What do historians say?
08:10 The independence movement
11:44 Pretenders
14:05 The state of things
15:23 Outro