Many dream of living in their own world, where there are no rules except for what they decide, and no visitors except for the welcome. This dream was fulfilled by the Italian engineer, Giorgio Rosa.

"Rosa", who died in 2016, was a rebellious person, fond of independence and breaking the rules, he went with his imagination, to the point of building his own world, and was already able to build "Rose Island" (Rose Island) that included a restaurant, bar and gift shop. Memorial and even a post office, and declared it an independent state until it was destroyed by a European state.

Who is Giorgio Rosa, and what is the "Island of Roses" story?

Prince of Anarchists

Giorgio Rosa was born in May 1925 in Bologna, Italy, and obtained his mechanical engineering degree in 1950.

He grew up a rebel, he was not concerned with rules and laws, his father tried a lot to include him in the system of laws and society, so this increased him a rebellion, and he always felt that he was misunderstood.

So he decided to build his own world, an island in the middle of the sea, symbolizing freedom and autonomy without laws dictated by one over the other.

His son, Lorenzo Rosa, says about him in an interview with the BBC: “My father was an engineer, and in Italy it suffices to describe him in this way to understand the type of person he was. He was a very accurate and very organized person, an engineer in the German sense of the word, except for This small vein of madness, which pushed him to build a platform for himself, then declared it a country outside the territorial waters, which made him somewhat the prince of the anarchists. "

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Dream beat the odds

In the middle of the sea, about 12 kilometers "6.3 nautical miles" from the coast of Rimini;

That is, outside the borders of Italian waters, "Rosa" built his own island, which was a concrete platform of 400 meters in international waters.

In 1958, Rosa began working on building the island with his friend Maurizio, who was working, at the time, in shipbuilding with his father.

The realization of his dream took nearly 10 full years, not without obstacles and difficulties.

In 1962, while work was still ongoing on the island, Italian authorities ordered construction companies to remove all obstacles to navigation.

But "Rosa" fought to keep what he had accomplished and to complete what was left, and after contacting the port authorities, he bought space on the wharf, obtained supplies of diesel fuel and permission to build the concrete structure, and posted a notice to sailors warning of the existence of the structures;

To be able to rebuild in 1964, all of this and his intention was not clear to the officials.

In 1966, the authorities ordered a halt to construction, which was lacking a permit;

But construction of the island continued, and a 400-square-meter, one-story reinforced concrete platform was finally put in place, although the initial plan was to build 5 floors, according to Wanted in Rome.

Fresh water in the middle of the sea

Rosa's biggest challenge was to obtain a source of fresh water for his island, and by using an aquifer drill at a depth of about 280 meters under the sea, he brought fresh water to the entire island.

In August 1967 the island was inaugurated, and it immediately became a tourist attraction for thousands of people, who demanded her citizenship. In the following year, it was declared an independent state headed by "Giorgio Rosa".

The authorities began to become anxious as soon as it was completed, as the "Rosa" platform quickly attracted the attention of Italian newspapers, and against the backdrop of global unrest with the Vietnam War and civil rights protests, young people flocked to "Rose" Island for fun and freedom.

Officials and politicians made strenuous efforts to try to shut it down, as the Italian government tried to discredit it by claiming that the island was being used for illegal activities such as gambling and drug abuse.

And they pose a threat to national security, and could provide cover for Soviet nuclear submarines, in an attempt to eliminate them.

The Republic of "Esperanto"

"Rosa" faced pressures to form a government for his island, including a finance minister, a minister of interior affairs and a minister of foreign affairs. He declared the island a republic with special stamps and currency, as well as an independent language in which the official language of the state is "Esperanto."

The island has been called the "Republic of Esperanto," according to the Italian tourist site "Visit-rimini".

With the increase in pressure and threats from the Italian government, "Rosa" submits a request to the European Council to resolve disputes between states for the recognition and registration of his island as an independent republic.

Immediately the Italian government decided to destroy the island, which was announced for a few months. The island was not destroyed despite the use of a group of explosives, so the Navy attempted again two days after the first attempt;

But by using stronger explosives, it was able to deform the structure of the platform.

A few days later, the island completely collapsed due to strong winds, and in the following months the island was completely dismantled and removed, although some remains of the island’s structure and walls were found on the sea floor in 2009.

A movie after 50 years

The curtain fell on the island, and the European Council declared it was unable to take a decision on it;

Because it is outside European territorial waters.

However, the United Nations, to prevent similar incidents from occurring, has designated the territorial maritime border 12 nautical miles from the shore instead of 6 nautical miles.

Although the story of Al Jazeera, with its inspiring details and unnatural will, did not take its right to spread and know, until last month when the "Netflix" platform produced and screened a movie that tells the story.

Even the heroine of the Italian movie "Rose Island", "Matilda De Angelis", said in an interview with "BBC" "" I am from Bologna, and when I read the script, I wondered why no one has ever made a film about the story .. It is really unbelievable. " .