Cospaia

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Repubblica di Cospaia
Cospaia Republic

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1440 – 1826

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Motto
Perpetua et firma libertas

Capital

Not specified

Language(s)

Italian

Government

Republic

History

- Established

1440

- Disestablished

May 25, 1826

Area

3.3 km² (1 sq mi)

Cospaia was a small former republic in Italy. It unexpectedly gained independence in 1440 after Pope Eugene IV, embroiled in struggle with the Council of Basel, made a sale of territory to the Republic of Florence. By error a small strip of land went unmentioned in the sale treaty, and its inhabitants promptly declared themselves independent. An early centre in Italy for tobacco production, Cospaia eventually deteriorated into a mere smugglers' state, so Tuscany and the Papal States divided the republic between them in 1826.

Today the republic is a hamlet near the town of San Giustino in the Province of Perugia.

[edit] References

Ascani, Angelo (1963). Cospaia: storia inedita della singolare Repubblica. Tuscany: Città di Castello.
Natali, Filippo (1892). La stato libero di Cospaia: nell'alta Valle del Tevere (1440-1826). Umbertide: stab. tip. Tiberino.