Basic HTML Version
CONTINUED ON PAGE 128
»
70
JANUARY 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
few stragglers were tossed back to France, and
Monaco became independent. And Seborga?
In the midst of all this dividing and ceding
and shuffling, the principality was swept into
the dustbin of history. Due to a clerical error,
Seborga didn’t appear on any of the lists—
whichmeant it became part of Italybydefault.
Seborgans accepted Italian governance (they
didn’t have much of a choice) but they held to
the belief that they deserved sovereignty. The
question was: How were they going to get it?
A Seborgan gardener named Giorgio
Carbone believed he had the answer. He
would first restore the town’s ancient tradi-
tions, including the elected office of prince.
Not surprisingly, in 1963, the citizens of
Seborga elected him to that position, and
he assumed the title Giorgio I. Such titles
would become critical as a way to increase
the distance between Italy and Seborga,
says Baron Jean-Philippe Arno e, Giorgio I’s
mu onchop-sporting adviser and Seborga’s
diplomatic representative in
Luxembourg. Arno e (whose
title was purchased in part
fromaNorthern Irish baron)
helped Giorgio I develop a
coat of arms and a system of
heraldry, and began piecing
together a Seborgan national
history. The plan was to
use this history—one that
proved the town’s sovereign
status—to win national and
international recognition.
More than four decades
later, however, the project
remainedunfinished; Giorgio
I died in 2009. (He attained
a new title in death: “His
Tremendousness.”)
At the time, Marcello Menegatto was
merely a 30-year-old, Vespa-riding business-
man. Swiss by birth and hailing from family
wealth, he first came to Seborga when he and
his wife, Nina, bought a farm outside town.
“In the beginning, we just wanted a place for
our animals. We didn’t take the whole inde-
pendence thing seriously,” Nina Menega o
says. “My husband never wanted to be prince.”
But the town had other ideas. Giorgio I’s
former ministers talked Menega o into run-
ning a er a slate of subpar candidates turned
up to vie for His Tremendousness’ throne.
“They just wanted the title. They didn’t care
about the people of Seborga,” Menega o says.
But he did—and the fact that he owns a con-
struction company didn’t hurt. “My husband’s
dream is to build a big hotel and a golf course
here,” Nina Menega o says.
STANDING ON CEREMONY
Clock-
wise from top left, walking the carpet
at Seborga’s knighting ceremony;
Baron Jean-Philippe Arnotte, Seborgan
founding father and ambassador to
Luxembourg; one of the town’s many
quaint alleyways; Seborga-brand shoe
p66-70_HEM0112_Seborga.indd 70
05/1