There is a country in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines that does not appear on any map. A micro-nation that first emerged in 1996, when the winds of secession blew across northern Italy after the electoral success of Umberto Bossi and his political party, the right-wing Lega Nord (Northern League). Its name is Mapsulon and its self-declared territory mostly overlaps with the municipality of Maresca, a pleasant village less than 20 miles away from Pistoia, a city northwest of Florence. The beginning of this bizarre and little-known story dates back to the early 1990s, when a small group of young and literate friends, born or raised in the village of Maresca, imagined a different world based on art, amusement, and political utopias. “We were standing at a crossroads,” recalls Secondo Calibano, one of the founding fathers of Mapsulon.
“Lega Nord had been promoting the independence of Padania from Italy for years, and the electoral triumph of the party in 1996 seemed to make this scenario absolutely plausible.” Padania, the nation that the Lega Nord wished to create, would have stretched from the Italian Alps to the northern border of Tuscany – almost exactly where the village of Maresca stood. Soon, uncertainty about the village's fate began to unsettle life within this little world. “We began to ask ourselves if the future of our community would have been with the new emerging country or with the remains of Italy,” Secondo recalls. Amid this precarious political situation, the people of Maresca decided to take their destiny into their own hands. On the 15th of September 1996 – the day when Padania celebrated its intended self-determination, Maresca declared independence – naming itself Mapsulon. Proud of their Etruscan origins, the villagers felt that they had nothing in common with Padania; nor with the bureaucracy of the Italian state.
From the text appeared on Issue #4 of Point.51 Magazine (July 2021)
From the text appeared on Issue #4 of Point.51 Magazine (July 2021)
View of Mapsulon
Secondo Calibano, one of the "founders" of Mapsulon. The name is a nickname coming from Shakespeare's The Tempest
Map of Mapsulon. The borders are shown in red
Secondo Calibano checks the path through the forests of Mapsulon
The Northern border of Mapsulon
Vehicular traffic and paved roads are both forbidden in Mapsulon
The self-proclaimed Free Territory of Mapsulon has pursued an odd mix of isolationist policies, such as the ban of television, due to the alleged poor quality of its channels
Italian magazines from the '90s showing the viril and determined leader of the Northern League, Umberto Bossi. Mapsulon was officially founded on 15th September 1996 after a huge and unexpected electoral success of the Northern League, a Secessionist Party guided by Umberto Bossi that had the aim of splitting Italy in two. The village of Maresca was right in the middle of this hypothetical boundary
The name of the new micro-nation came from a movie, I figli di Belial (The sons of Belial) by Tomas Ciampi, where the word "Mapsulon" appeared for the first time as a nickname of the village of Maresca. This artifice was inspired by the work of the writer H.P. Lovecraft. In his fictional world all plots took place in Arkham, a fictituos town that closely resembled his hometown, Providence
A picture supposedly taken on September the 15th 1996 in Piazza Appiano, the central square of the village of Maresca. On this day the independence of Mapsulon from Italy was officially declared
The remains of a fallen tree
Flowers in front of the cippus that stands in the forests of Mapsulon to pay homage and to preserve the memory of the Partisans who lost their lives in anti-fascist actions during WWII
Secondo Calibano
A picnic table in the forests of Mapsulon
Inside an old style café in the village of Mapsulon
Tomas Ciampi, director and musician, posing in the garden of his house
Mapsulon prints its own currency, the Bullera, whose value is pegged to the Ngultrum, the official currency of Bhutan
Wild berries are common on the hills of the country
The Mapsulon Publishing Company ("Société éditoriale mapsulonnaise") is the real heart of this experience. Founded in 1996, it has printed several booklets, tales and even a newspaper, L'eco di Mapsulon, until some years ago
An abandoned house in the centre of the village
Tomas Ciampi, director and musician, is one of the Founding Fathers of Mapsulon
Beech wood forests sorrounding Mapsulon
