The Principality of Seborga. An ethnography of a re-/produced history

Silvia Bungaro supervised by

Seborga is a small village of North-West Italy where diverse activities of re-enactment have been carried out from the 60′. They elected a King, re-enact a Medieval costumed parade on the patron feast, and have started promoting theirself as “the Ancient Principality of Seborga”.
Originated as some goliardic performances enacted to attract tourism, the phenomenon turned into a planned project of independency from Italy from the 90s’. The King arrived to be legally sued for breaking some Italian laws during this “pursuit of freedom”.

Through ethnographical approach I will consider the materiality inherent to the “Principality project”. They created a specific material culture and shaped the village as phisical set to support the narrative of the Principality, alongside publishing a self-produced literature inspired to historical academic writing to validate the credibility of their re-construction.
Moreover, the relationship with new (the web and its features) and mass media (newspaper, television) in relation to strategies of representation and self-representation will be addressed.

I will also analyze issues regarding the problematic and controversial definition of the condition of ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ towards Seborga as Italian municipality and towards the Principality of Seborga, as political entity aiming to independency raised within the village community itself after the enforcement of the political agenda pursued by the Principality of Seborga leadership in the 90s’.

These main themes will be addressed with consideration of the development of the re-enactment practices from the 60s’ to the current days in the context of contemporary Italian political climate.