지구상에서 가장 적은 왕국, 내가 자랐던 시골동네보다 더 적은곳이라니...

소형왕국이라고 하는데, 인구는, 그것도 일년내내 상주하는 사람들이 아니고, 시즌에만 잠시 머무는곳으로 고작 11명이고, 뒷산에는 그곳에서 살고 있는 산악염소 100 여마리가 전부라고 하는데, 내가 어렸을적 자랐던 시골동네도 이보다는 컸었다. 20여호 가옥에 동네 식구는 약 100 여명이었었는데.... 그래도 동네에서 가장 높은 직책은 동네를 대표해서 면사무소와 연락을 책임(?)진 반장님이 었었다. 이소형 왕국에서는 그러한 조직도 없는것 같아 보인다. 잠깐 들여다 보자.

왕으로 자처하는 Tavolara왕국의 왕이 낚시로 오징어나 또는 대충만들어 거주하는 벙갈로앞에 있는 정원을 가꾸지 않을때는, 시즌이 되면 잠시 거주하는 11명의 주민들과 뒷산에 서식하고 있는 100며마리의 산염소들과 어울리는게 전부다.  휴양지로 인기있는 이태리 북쪽의 Costa Smeralda의 세계적으로 유명한 Sardina의 바로 남쪽에 있는 Tavolara 조그만 섬은 바위로 뒤덮힌 험악한 산처럼, 파란바닷물이 몰아치는 섬이다.  이섬에는 호텔도 길도없고, 오직 사람이 잠시 들릴수 있는곳은 아주 짧은 바닷가 모래사장일 뿐이다.

 

 우리가 정박한 곳은 Antonio Bertoleoni라는 곳으로, 세상에는 "Tonino"로 더 알려진, 83세의 전직어부가 운영하는 식당이 전부이며, 그가 바로 이섬의 통치자로 지구상에서 사람이 거주하는 가장 작은 왕국을 통치하는 곳이다.  지난 22년간 Tonino는 핫패츠를 입고, 샌달을 신고, 5평방키로미터인 초미니 왕국을 통치해 오고 있다.

"아마도 나는 지구상에 현존하는 가장 평범한 왕일 것이다. 왕으로 내가 오직 즐기는것은 공짜로 식사를 즐길수 있는 특권이다"라고 Tonino는 모래사장속에 발을 깊이 비벼넣고, 그의 식당을 바라보면서 설명이다.

Tavolara 왕국은 금년에 180주년을 경축하고 있다. 실질적으로는 이태리보다 25년 먼저 탄생한 셈이다.  조그만 섬에 소형왕국을 세운다는것은 지중해의 한곳에 외로히 떨어져 있을때, 마치 왕이 된것같은 느낌을 받는것 이상으로 상상할수 있는 꿈일수도 있다.  그러나 이야기는 1807년의 거슬러 올라간다.  Tonino의 고조할아버지, Giuseppe Bertoleoni씨가 당시에는 아무도 거주하지 않던 이섬에 처음 정착하면서 시작된다.

자서전, Tavolara, Island of the Kings에서 묘사된 내용을 보면, 처음에는 절반은 목동으로, 절반은 해적으로 묘사된다. 이곳으로 이민온Genovese의 후손은 두자매와 결혼했기 때문에, 일부다처제의 법을 어긴셈이 되여 이곳으로 도피하여 이곳에서 둥지를 틀고 살려고 했었다.

                          

이섬의 왕인 Tonino가  그의 식당앞에서 웃음짖고있다.

Giuseppe and his small harem soon realised that they were sharing their island paradise with a rare species of wild goats whose teeth were dyed a golden-yellow colour by the seaweed and lichen they ate. Word of the gilt-toothed goats eventually spread to Sardinia’s ruler, Carlo Alberto, who eagerly travelled to Tavolara to hunt the animals in 1836. Giuseppe’s 24-year-old son, Paolo, guided the hunting excursions.

“When he landed, Carlo Alberto introduced himself by saying, ‘I’m Carlo Alberto, the King of Sardinia,’” Tonino said. “And so my great-grandfather replied, ‘Well, I’m Paolo, the King of Tavolara.’”

After killing several goats and feasting for three days at Paolo’s home, Carlo Alberto was so delighted that he said, “Paolo, you really are the King of Tavolara!” before sailing off, according to Tonino. Joking or not, Carlo Alberto later confirmed that the far-flung island had never officially been part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and he sent Paolo a scroll from Carlo Alberto’s royal family, the House of Savoy, that certified the monarchy’s status.

Paolo promptly created the Bertoleoni coat of arms and painted it on the wall of his home. He also drew a royal family tree and built a cemetery on the island for himself and his descendants. When he died, he insisted on being buried with a crown cemented atop his tombstone – something he never wore while alive.

In the years that followed, news of the island’s sovereignty spread beyond the Mediterranean, and tiny Tavolara even formed a handful of political allies.Giuseppe Garibaldi, one of Italy’s founding fathers, soon became a trusted advisor of the Bertoleoni family; and the King of Sardinia at the time, Vittorio Emanuele II, went so far as to sign a peace treaty with the stamp-sized island’s 33 residents in 1903.

While collecting photographs of world leaders, Queen Victoria commissioned a British naval vessel to stop by the island so that officers could photograph Tavolara’s “royal family”. For years, the gold-framed photo was displayed in Buckingham Palace with the caption “World’s Smallest Kingdom”. Today, a giant copy of it hangs in Tonino’s restaurant, which is appropriately called The King of Tavolara and adorned with the royal crest that King Paolo I first designed.

After 126 years, the installation of a NATO base in 1962 effectively ended the kingdom’s independence, and made a quarter of the island off-limits to its handful of residents. Yet, like San Marino, Tavolara has never been formally annexed into modern Italy, making Tonino the fifth king in a kingdom that the world no longer recognises.

These days, when he’s not fishing for squid or gardening outside his squat bungalow, his majesty lords over Tavolara's 11 part-time residents, 100 nimble mountain goats and a few species of endangered falcons that live atop the island’s 565m limestone peak. For the past 40 years, Tonino has been personally escorting visitors to his family’s island palace – first by rowboat, and now via a 25-minute ferry that he operates from Porto San Paolo.

“My family may have had a beautiful past,” Tonino said in a soft voice, “but we work hard and live simply, just like everybody else.”

In fact, running the kingdom is very much a family business. While the king and his nephew, Nicola, captain the summer ferry, the prince and princess in waiting, Giuseppe and Loredana, now run the beachside restaurant. Giuseppe’s nephew, Antonio, wakes up early to go fishing every morning and supplies most of the clams, lobster and fish that fly out of the kitchen each afternoon and evening.

Thanks to a wave of tourism to the island, the kingdom’s GDP has been strong recently. Ironically, Tavolara is now the crown jewel in a protected Italian national marine reserve that has one of the highest levels of biomass in the Mediterranean. As a result, the island has quickly become one of the top diving destinations in Italy, with visitors flocking to swim with tortoises, sperm whales and basking sharks before coming up for air at the al fresco restaurant.

While Tonino still likes to greet guests as they come from the dock, his favourite part of the day is before the swell of sun worshippers and scuba enthusiasts descend on his empire. Just after dawn, he likes to walk past Tavolara’s handful of sunset-coloured homes and along a dusty path to visit the royal cemetery. Since King Paolo I passed in 1886, the plot has grown to hold every noble member of the kingdom – most recently Tonino’s wife, Queen Pompea, who passed away several years ago.

“I like to bring her plastic flowers,” Tonino said. “If I brought her fresh ones, the goats would just eat them.”

Like most of the Bertoleonis who came before him and the prince who will one day succeed him, Tonino is technically an Italian citizen. He once vowed to make an appeal to Vittorio Emanuele IV, the son of the last King of Italy and the self-proclaimed Duke of Savoy, for the royal family to once again recognise the Kingdom of Tavolara, but then had a change of heart.

“For me, it’s a privilege just to live here,” Tonino said, staring out past the dock at his emerald empire. “Who needs a crown when you have a palace?”

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160304-the-worlds-smallest-kingdom