The new popular movie released on Netflix was inspired by a true and incredible Italian story
“L’incredibile storia dell’Isola delle Rose” is the original title in Italian and it translates into “The incredible story of Rose Island.” The incredible story has been omitted in the movie’s English title but this doesn’t change the fact that the facts that inspired it are extraordinary. In the 1960s, Bolognese Giorgio Rosa really created the Republic of Roses, an independent state on a concrete platform he built in international waters in front of Rimini. It is also the story of the Italian Republic’s only act of invasion.
The incredible story of Rose Island: the comedy-drama directed by Sydney Sibilia and released on Netflix on 9 December 2020 begins with the finale
In November 1968, Giorgio Rosa goes to Strasbourg to present his case in front of the European Court, where regulates disputes between states. Thus, the audience also goes over the events in a flashback. As a young engineering graduate, Rosa – interpreted by Elio Germano in the movie – had a great interest in construction and a passion for freedom. Combining the two, he came up with the idea to build his own island off the Italian coast of Rimini. In the context of the antiquated inner-workings of the Italian state, the movie successfully renders the contrast with the most concrete experiment of a libertarian utopia in history is successfully. Nevertheless, there are some aspects of the story that the director modified.
In the film, the engineer and his friend Maurizio build Rose Island in a short time. In reality, work began in 1958 and the 400-square-meters reinforced concrete platform and walls were put in place nine years later. The island opened to the public on August 20, 1967. It immediately attracted thousands of people and the following year it was declared an independent state with Giorgio Rosa as its head. Less than two months later, the Navy of the Italian Republic technically invaded the Republic of the Roses and destroyed it with two rounds of explosives on consecutive days. Also, in the film, Rosa struggles to win the love of Gabriella (Matilda De Angelis). In reality, when he built the island, they were already married and they worked hard together to keep the project going and had a son, Lorenzo. After the demolition of Rose Island, Rosa kept on working as an engineer and became a professor. He passed away in 2017, at the age of 92.
Ilona Catani Scarlett