Republic of Rose Island

The Republic of Rose Island was amicronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) off the coast of the province of Rimini, Italy. In 1967, Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa funded the construction of a 400-square-metre platform supported by nine pylons.

In the island, there were a number of commercial establishments, including a restaurant, bar, nightclub, souvenir shop and a post office. Some reports says that the presence of a radio station was real, but this remains unconfirmed. The platform declared independence on 24 June 1968, under the Esperanto name "Insulo de la Rozoj", with Rosa as self-declared President. Both Esperanto rozo (plural rozoj) and Italian rosa (plural rose) mean "rose". Soon afterwards Rose Island issued a number of stamps, including a stamp showing the approximate location of Rose Island in the Adriatic Sea. The purported currency of the republic was the "Mill" and this appeared on the early stamp issues, although no coins or banknotes are known to have been produced. This denomination was translated into Esperanto as "Miloj" on later stamp issues (it is unrelated to the Esperantist currency spesmilo).

Rosa's actions were viewed by the Italian government as a ploy to raise money from tourists while avoiding national taxation. Whether or not this was the real reason behind Rosa's micronation, the Italian government's response was swift: a group of four carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza officers landed on the "Isola delle Rose" and assumed control. The platform's Council of Government is said to have sent a telegram, presumably to the Italian government, to protest the "violation of its sovereignty and the injury inflicted on local tourism by the military occupation", but this was ignored.

On 13 February 1969, the Italian Navy used explosives to destroy the facility, an act later portrayed on postage stamps issued by Rosa's self-declared Government in exile.

GIORGIO ROSA

Giorgio Rosa (Bologna, 7 May 1925 - Bologna, March 2, 2017) was an Italian engineer.
He was born in Bologna in 1925. He enrolled in the Italian Social Republic. Graduated in mechanical engineering in Bologna in 1950, he has always practiced the profession as well as being a consultant and a teacher.
It is known for having conceived, designed and created the Rose Island, an artificial platform of 400 m² that lay in the Adriatic Sea, outside the territorial waters of Italy. On 1 May 1968 he declared the island as an independent state, with the name "Esperanto Republic of the Rose Island" (in Esperanto Esperanto Respubliko de l'Insulo de la Rozoj).

HERALDRY, ARCHITECTURE AND STAMPS

The Republic of Rose Island became very famous in Italy during the last century, not only because of the fact of being a micronation in the Sea, also for the difusion of several elements, most of them decoratives, which gives a sence of independence to the people. A lot of magazines and newspapers talked about this Republic. Some TV reporters also talked about his country.
The stamps became very famous during the XX Century, in Italy.