Kingdom of Tavolara
| Kingdom of Tavolara Regno di Tavolara
Micronation |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Status | Inactive | |||||
| Capital | La Punta del Canone[1] | |||||
| Official languages | Sardinian, Italian | |||||
| Ethnic groups | Italian | |||||
| Demonym | Tavolaran | |||||
| Organizational structure | Monarchy | |||||
| • | King | Giuseppe | ||||
| • | King | Paolo II | ||||
| Establishment | ||||||
| • | Declared | 1836 | ||||
| Area claimed | ||||||
| • | Total | 5 km2 2 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| • | estimate | 57 | ||||
The Kingdom of Tavolara was an imaginary state claiming independence in the 19th and 20th centuries in Tavolara Island, off the northeast coast of Sardinia. Set up by the Bertoleoni family, it claimed to be one of the smallest kingdoms in the world.
Giuseppe Bertoleoni claimed to be its monarch. When he died in the 1840s, his eldest son became "King" Paolo I.
During his reign, in 1861 the Italian government paid 12,000 lire for land at the northeast end of the island to build a lighthouse, which began operating in 1868.[2][3]
After Paolo's death in 1886,[4] a number of newspapers published the report that according to his will, the island had become a republic. The New York Times described a government with president and council of six elected every six years by a vote of the people, male and female.[5] Others reported on Tavolara's alleged third presidential election in 1896.[6][7] These reports, however, did not end the Bertoleone "kingdom".[8]
The third "king" of Tavolara was Carlo I, who was succeeded upon his death in 1928 by his son "King" Paolo II.[9] Paolo went abroad, however, and left Carlo's sister Mariangela as regent in his absence. Mariangela died in 1934, leaving the "kingdom" to Italy.[10]
Her nephew Paolo II still claimed the kingdom until his death in 1962, a year that marked the installation of a NATO station on the island.
The present head of the Bertoleoni family is Tonino Bertoleoni, who runs "Da Tonino", a restaurant on the island. Politically, the interests of the micronation are represented in its external dealings by "Prince" Ernesto Geremia di Tavolara of La Spezia, Italy, who has written a history of the island.[11]
The tomb of Paolo I is in the graveyard on the island, surmounted by a crown.
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Notice to Mariners," London Gazette, Aug 28, 1868, p 4734
- ↑ "E morto il Re!" La Sardegna, June 8, 1886, p 1
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Tiny Nation to Vote: Smallest Republic in the World to Hold a Presidential Election," Lowell Daily Sun, Sep 17, 1896
- ↑ "Nation of 55 People: Republic of Tavolara in Its Third Presidential Campaign" Boston Globe, Jan 10, 1897, p 34
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Italy Gets Queen's Island of Tavolara," Hartford Courant, July 9, 1934, p 15
- ↑ Geremia, Ernesto Carlo, and Gino Ragnetti (2005), Tavolara - l'Isola dei Re, ISBN 88-425-3441-2
- Fioretti, Ovidio, "La corona senza reame," Almanacco di Cagliari 1989
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
