Seborga

Seborga is a small town in the region of Liguria in northwest Italy, near the French border. Administratively, it is a comune of the Italian province of Imperia. The main economic activities are horticulture and tourism.

The town is notable for claims of independence from Italy as the sovereign Principality of Seborga.

Economy and culture

Seborga is known in the region for its agricultural activity: in particular, cultivation and collection of olives and floriculture crops. Thanks to Seborga's publicity as a principality, tourism has expanded in recent years. The principality's historic town centre was also restored, ensuring that its charms were protected from commercial overdevelopment.

An important cultural event in Seborga is the annual festival of Saint Bernard, the town's patron saint, held on August 20. Seborga's twin city is L'Escarène, France.

Transport

Seborga is situated along Provincial Road 57 in Imperia. The nearest motorway access is at the Bordighera exit on the A10. The nearest railway station is also the one in Bordighera, on the Ventimiglia-Genoa line.

Principality of Seborga

The Principality of Seborga is an unrecognized micronation, that claims a 14 km² stretch of area located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border; and about 35 km (23 mi) from Monaco. The principality is in coexistence with, and claims the territory of, the town of Seborga.

History

In arguing for the founding of Seborga in 1963, a Seborgan named Giorgio Carbone claimed, based on documents from the Vatican archives, that during the Middle Ages the town had become part of the feudal holdings of the Counts of Ventimiglia. He insisted that in the year 954 Seborga became the property of the Benedictine Monks of Santo Onorato of Lerins and in 1079 the Abbot of this monastery was made a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, with temporal authority over the Principality of Seborga.

Allegedly on 20 January 1729, this independent principality was sold to the Savoy dynasty and became a protectorate of theirs. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna overlooked Seborga in its redistribution of European territories after the Napoleonic Wars, and there is no mention of Seborga in the Act of Unification for the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The Unification of Italy in 1861 and the Italian Republic in 1946 would therefore illegitimate and unilateral acts, because they violate the legitimate sovereignty of the people of Seborga. The exile of the Savoy, in 1946, involved also the end of ius patronatus.