Today we present an ebook on the incredible story of Rose Island (Isola Delle Rose). Rose Island was a marine platform built in Italy near the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, near the town Rimini. The author of the ebook, published by the Oil Forest League, is the architect and architectural theorist Giacinto Cerviere. Cerviere is the founder of Vortex_A Architecture & Visions. Thanks to Cerviere’s research, the Rose Island has become internationally known and has even been covered by scientific magazines.

In addition to being a publishing house, Oil Forest League is also a Free School inspired by libertarian schools like the Royal Society or the Spanish anarchist schools of the early twentieth century such as the Escuela Moderna.

The founder of the Rose Island platform was the engineer Giorgio Rosa, who in 1968 built a steel structure with a surface of 20×20 meters, positioning it at the beginning of international waters, resting it on a seabed, and giving it a depth of about 15 meters. It is believed that the Italian project may have been inspired by the micronation of the Principality of Sealand, which was inaugurated a year earlier in the North Sea near the southern coast of England.

The Rose Island soon adopted a constitution and used the Esperanto language. In June 1968 the platform welcomed the first foreign visitors and tourists. A flag was raised, and the declaration of independence was read. Commemorative stamps were also printed, which today have acquired values on eBay that reach five thousand euros (it is said that even Queen Elizabeth owns a copy).

The Rose Island lasted only 55 days. In January 1969, it was destroyed by the Italian navy. The Italian government feared that its founder was affiliated with the Soviet Union and that the micronation could host a spy base or a pirate radio. But it was actually a brilliant commercial gimmick. Some newspapers of the time hypothesized that illicit activities could arise on the micronation, such as smuggling alcohol and cigarettes or hosting unauthorized night clubs.

The ebook of the Rose Island can be purchased on Amazon Kindle. Here is the link to visit the Oil Forest League website: www.oilforestleague.com