For more than four centuries Italy has had what it was and was the smallest Republic in the world. In fact, the Italian State today, in addition to having already annexed San Marino and the State of the Church, could have contained another mini-republic.
The other “San Marino”: In Italy there was the SMALLEST and LIBERTARY REPUBLIC in the world, without laws or taxes
# Independence by mistake
Cospaia
We are talking about a country that today not only no longer has its independence, but is even reduced to an hamlet. It is Cospaia in the Municipality of San Giustino, in the province of Perugia, Umbria.
What not everyone knows, in addition to sometimes not knowing of its existence, is that Cospaia obtained its independence by mistake. In 1441, Pope Eugene IV, engaged in the struggle with the Council of Basel, should have ceded the territory of Sansepolcro to the Republic of Florence, but in the transfer of ownership he forgot a small strip of land: Cospaia. Its inhabitants did not hesitate even for a moment and immediately declared their independence giving birth to the smallest independent state. The Republic of Cospaia was inhabited only by 350 people who, until June 26th 1826, governed themselves.
# A state without laws and without taxes
3km long by 500m wide, a Republic so small that the independence declared by its inhabitants did not raise any problems for the two states, the Papal State and the Republic of Florence, which were at war. The inhabitants were only 350 and for this reason they did not feel the need to issue laws or introduce a court. There was only a group of wise men and elders who decided the internal issues. In addition, the lack of particular laws also favored the trade of goods prohibited in other states, such as tobacco, so much so that some streets in the town are still called Traffickers’ paths. Here there were not even taxes, duties and gabelles to pay.
# The Pope puts an end to independence
In 1826 the Republic of Cospaia was annexed to the Papal State losing its independence and the record of being the smallest Republic in the world. But still today its inhabitants remember this particular moment in the history of their country. Some artifacts that testify to the history of the Cospaia Republic are in fact kept in the Tobacco Museum in San Giustino.
ALESSANDRO VIDALI
(Original article by Beatrice Barazzetti)
