The village
The village welcomes its visitors with the words “Welcome to the ancient principality of Seborga”, reflecting the importance of the place in past ages. Fief of the Counts of Ventimiglia, donated to the Benedictine monks in 954, Seborga assumed the title of small principality until 1729, when it became property of the Savoy family. In 1666, under the authorization of the king of France, the monks of the place established a mint to coin money, the “Luigino”, with a relative value of one quarter of one French “Luigi”. The inhabitants of the village have been claiming their independence from the state for centuries and in 1995 they re-elected their prince, reworking a new constitution with coins and stamps printed on site. Within the medieval old town, there are some buildings of significant historical and artistic interest, including the church of Saint Benedict, the Parish Church of Saint Martin, the Monks’ Palace, seat of the mint.
The history
Inside the copy of a document on which the date of 954 is written, there is an indication regarding Guido, Count of Ventimiglia, about to leave for Spanish lands to carry out a mission to help King Alfonso engaged in the fighting against the Saracen populations, indicating the importance of Seborga already in distant times. Later on, the Count of Ventimiglia gave his landholdings, consisting of the village and the areas immediately adjacent, to the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Lerino. It was later incorporated into the Republic of Genoa, which had extended its domains to Nice and declared to assume the protection of Seborga, although in fact the village continued to depend directly from the County of Provence. These agreements remained unchanged until 1700 when the territory became part of the district of Menton and later of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Kingdom of Italy. Only in recent times, some members of the local community claim their independence from the Italian Republic by virtue of an ancient status of principality, questioning the validity of the annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Hence, the election of a local symbolic prince, the coinage of a currency and the drafting of proper statutes only for folkloristic purposes.
