March 24, 2014
Suddenly
....Venice just voted to secede from Italy.
It's not just one very wet town either, it's a chunk of northern Italy that includes cities as big as Trieste and Trento.
The referendum was non binding, and is being dismissed by the Italian government, but 89% is a big enough share of the vote that the issue is not going away.
We in the US might arguably loose our status as the oldest existing republic...Venice was once an independent republic and was at one time an economic powerhouse that contributed greatly to the Renaissance. Its system of government was referenced in debates on the US constitution.Venice was probably the longest lived Republic in history, lasting 1100 years. The 200 odd years since its destruction by the Jacobins spans less than a tenth of the time it existed. In fact after the Napoleonic Wars the region fought for and eventually gained their independence from Austria Hungary and re-established the republic (as San Marco) for 17 months only to have the area reconquered and later annexed by Italy.
Now the people of Northeastern Italy, fed up with Italian corruption and high taxes have held a referendum with 89% of the vote in favor of secession. The area has always been somewhat culturally distinct from the rest of Italy since its absorption.
Elsewhere in Italy, Sardinia is also looking to secede but is going about it differently. They are not just attempting to leave Italy, they are petitioning to accede into Switzerland, pointing out that the 8 new cantons would bring with them BEACHES, which Switzerland rather lacks at the moment.
It's not just one very wet town either, it's a chunk of northern Italy that includes cities as big as Trieste and Trento.
The referendum was non binding, and is being dismissed by the Italian government, but 89% is a big enough share of the vote that the issue is not going away.
We in the US might arguably loose our status as the oldest existing republic...Venice was once an independent republic and was at one time an economic powerhouse that contributed greatly to the Renaissance. Its system of government was referenced in debates on the US constitution.Venice was probably the longest lived Republic in history, lasting 1100 years. The 200 odd years since its destruction by the Jacobins spans less than a tenth of the time it existed. In fact after the Napoleonic Wars the region fought for and eventually gained their independence from Austria Hungary and re-established the republic (as San Marco) for 17 months only to have the area reconquered and later annexed by Italy.
Now the people of Northeastern Italy, fed up with Italian corruption and high taxes have held a referendum with 89% of the vote in favor of secession. The area has always been somewhat culturally distinct from the rest of Italy since its absorption.
Elsewhere in Italy, Sardinia is also looking to secede but is going about it differently. They are not just attempting to leave Italy, they are petitioning to accede into Switzerland, pointing out that the 8 new cantons would bring with them BEACHES, which Switzerland rather lacks at the moment.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:40 AM
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