1963: a good year for crazy Italian men

I love autonomous communities, even if they're just wannabes.

So imagine my delight upon discovering Seborga, a town of five square miles and 2,000 people in the Ligurian region of Italy. In 1963, Giorgio Carbone was elected the Prince of Seborga, despite the fact that Italy doesn't recognize it as sovereign. Giorgio, who died late last year, is awesome because
1) he drove a horse and buggy before he switched to a black Mercedes with Seborgan plates
2)he demanded to be called His Tremendousness
3) he installed a standing army (of one man)
4)he held court in a local bar
5) he forsook marriage because he loved all his female subjects equally
6)he had an all you can eat meat and cheese deal with a local shop as salary
7) he made ALL OF THIS UP out of nowhere and converted it into a REALITY. If that doesn't prove the power of positive thinking, I don't know what does.



This Prince reminded me instantly of Marcovaldo, a fictional character of Italo Calvino's, seen here in an illustration by Claudia Bettinardi. I thought surely that either reality inspired the fiction or vice-versa. Marcovaldo is equally quirky and equally wishful, if a bit less effective at actualizing his farfetched plans. The coincidence is that Marcovaldo was published in 1963, the year Giorgio took his throne in the dirty old Bianca Azzura bar. While some of the stories were written in the 50s, it's highly doubtful that they found their way to the backwater of Seborga. I guess Italy is just chockful of crazy, seccesionistly minded old men.
And I love that.