In 1967, Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa constructed a 400-square-meter platform off the coast of Rimini, Italy. Located 11. 6 kilometers from the shore, the platform sat just 500 meters outside Italian territorial waters.
On May 1, 1968, Rosa declared the platform an independent state named the Republic of Rose Island (Isola delle Rose). The micronation issued its own stamps, used Esperanto as its official language, and even established its own currency, the Mill. Rosa’s goal was to create a zone of total freedom, complete with a restaurant, bar, and souvenir shop to finance the project.
However, the Italian government viewed the platform with extreme suspicion. Politicians speculated it was a scheme to avoid paying national taxes on tourism revenues, or worse, a potential Soviet spy post in the Adriatic Sea. Furthermore, Rose Island raised unprecedented international law questions regarding maritime sovereignty and artificial structures.
To dismantle the legal ambiguity, Italy took decisive military and legal action. The government claimed the platform violated navigational safety and national security regulations while operating as an illegal commercial enterprise close to Italian waters. Less than two months after the declaration of independence, Italian military police seized control of the platform.
In February 1969, the Italian Navy used dynamite to blow the platform up, utterly destroying Rose Island. Today, the event remains the only sovereign country ever directly attacked and destroyed by the Republic of Italy.