Seborga (Ligurian: A Seborca)[3] is a small village and self-proclaimed principality in the region of Liguria near the French border.

The principality's historic town centre was also restored, ensuring that its charms were protected from commercial overdevelopment.

In 1964, Giorgio Carbone, then head of the local flower growers' co-operative, began promoting the idea that Seborga and its surrounding territory should become independent from Italy.

Carbone claimed that Seborga had existed as a sovereign state of Italy since 954, and that from 1079 it was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire.

[11][14][15] An official Principato di Seborga website asserts the historical arguments put forward by Carbone.