Republic of Piani Sottani
Republic of Piani Sottani Repubblica dei Piani Sottani | |
|---|---|
| Motto: "L'Italia è mansionata da infami, ladri e barbari." "Italy is inhabited by scoundrels, thieves and barbarians." | |
 Map designed by Michele Mulieri, the only existing map. | |
| Status | Disbanded |
| Capital | No capital |
| Largest Estate with shop | Molieri estate |
| Official languages | Italian |
| Recognised national languages | Lucanian dialect |
| Ethnic groups (1950) |
|
| Demonym(s) | Sottani |
| Government | Absolute Republic |
• President | Michele Mulieri |
| Legislature | Public demonstrations |
| Independence from the Italy | |
• Refusal to register his last child in the registry office and foundation of the republic | 7 March 1950 |
| Area | |
• Total | 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 1950 estimate | 20 |
| Membership | 21 |
• Summer (DST) | UTC- |
| Today part of | Italy |
The Republic of Piani Sottani, was a micronation of 4,000m² who existed in 1950.
The Republic of Piani Sottani, as it was called in the fervent decade after the Second World War, when Italy, broken by the conflict, was patching up and rebuilding itself, is at kilometer 16-300 of the road that leads from the Basentana state road to Grassano and Tricarico. At the crossroads of Calle five roads intersect: the Piani are there, among the clayey gullies, typical of Matera: a petrol station, a fuel depot, a bar, a trattoria ("Holy Year Restaurant"), a tobacconist, and the public telephone. In the land of the so-called "vanquished" and "peasant patience" Michele Mulieri is a reality apart. Fighter in Africa and worker in Rome, Michele Mulieri from Grassano, born in 1904, returns home when the Italian Republic is born, physically battered having suffered a serious accident at work which causes him to lose the use of his legs and Since then he has been forced to walk on crutches. He asks for a job and they offer him, who is struggling to hold himself together, a position as a field guard. Refuse. In the meantime he buys four thousand meters of uncultivated land for 80 thousand lire, under Grassano, his town. He installed a rudimentary petrol pump and asked for permission to open a restaurant. Permit refused and distributor closed. Distressed by the hardships he and his family are experiencing, Mulieri loses his temper. He confronts the Carabinieri marshal in the square of Grassano and snatches his ranks, trampling on them in front of everyone, got arrested and he was arrested and beaten almost to death. He returns to the farm and breaks contact with Italy. He declares the area "Independent Republic" and posts this proclamation: "Neghlicious, depraved and Italian bastards, I personally deny myself all calls and declare myself an absolute Republic"[1]
(IT) «[…] Allora cominciai a coltivare una striscia del mio terreno, ai margini della strada. Ci piantai qualche ortaggio e tre file di alberelli e ogni fila l’intestai ad una categoria: i ladri, i barbari, gli infami. Ogni albero rappresentava uno di quelli che mi avevano fatto del male o avevano cercato di contrastare le mie iniziative […] Al centro del campo piantai un tabellone: CAMPO STORICO DELLA MIA VITA. E a chi mi domandava dicevo che quella era la mia REPUBBLICA ASSOLUTA dove potevo comandare solo io e dove nessuno poteva mettere il piede senza il mio permesso»
(ENG) «[…] Then I began to cultivate a strip of my land, at the edge of the road. I planted some vegetables and three rows of saplings and assigned each row to a category: thieves, barbarians, the infamous. Each tree represented one of those who had harmed me or had tried to thwart my initiatives [...] In the center of the field I planted a board: HISTORICAL FIELD OF MY LIFE. And to those who asked me I said that that was my ABSOLUTE REPUBLIC where only I could command and where no one could set foot without my permission" - Michele Mulieri[2]
Today state of Piani Sottani
Today the Mulieri family still own the lands of the micronation, the gas pump and the restaurant have been opened, nowadays the only Memory of the micronation are few newspapers and a small statue.
References
- ↑ From a 1989 article by Franco Sernia, which appeared in “Basilicata Regione Notizie”
- ↑ Franco Casalino, Michele Mulieri “La vera storia di Michele Mulieri” – Galzerano Editore, Casalvelino Scalo (SA) 1982