Est sedes Italiae regni Modoetia magna (Latin) ("The seat of Italy is the great kindgom of Monza") | |||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Monza | ||||||
| Other cities | Ciniesello Balsamo, North Sesto St. Giovanni, Brugherio, St. Damiano, Concorezzo | ||||||
| Language | Italian and Lombard | ||||||
| Religion main |
Catholicism | ||||||
| others | Atheism | ||||||
| Demonym | Monzese | ||||||
| Government | Direct democracy | ||||||
| Legislature | the Monzese assembly | ||||||
| mayor | Elio Malvezzi (DC) (until 1993) | ||||||
| administrator of the protections | Riccardo Brambilla (PCI) (until 1989) | ||||||
| Population | around 90.000 | ||||||
| Independence | winter 1983 | ||||||
| Annexation | to Alpine Confederation | ||||||
| date | 1987 | ||||||
| Currency | Alpine franc (fr.) | ||||||
The Commune of Monza is an autonomous city-state in the Italian territory of the Alpine Confederation. It emerged as a survivor government in the aftermath of the Doomsday event as the chief settlement near the ruined city of Milan. In the post-apocalyptic world, Monza has put in place a program of direct democratic rule by the citizenry. The community spent most of its history seeking stability in order to preserve peace in the Lombard region.
History[]
Before Doomsday[]
With approximately 130.000 inhabitants, Monza was the third biggest city in the Lombard region of Italy. The cultural life of the city wasn't particularly vibrant and it was considered the smaller version of its neighbor Milan. In the southern neighborhoods of St. Rocco and Cederna were the centers of industry; in the centre the Royal Villa and the cathedral drew some tourists from nearby cities; and in the north the park hosted the prestigious Grand Prix: it was a normal large industrial town of northern Italy.
Doomsady[]
Monza was not a target during the events of Doomsday, but the grand city of Milan was. The city was spared by the missiles' deadly radiation: at the time of the impact the wind was strongly blowing to the south. At the time of the emergency, Mayor Elio Malvezzi granted himself special powers. As thousands of refugees from Milan came to the city, the Mayor granted them asylum in a makeshift camp in the park of Monza in the north. The following week Malvezzi announced that city was in a major crisis and the only way to overcome it was to get help from the central government in Rome.
A major protest over the lack of food and supplies rose in the poor industrial suburbs of St. Rocco and St. Alessandro. Clashes with the weak police force became violent and the Mayor had no choice but to negotiate.
The Commune[]
The land around Milan could no longer support a large population. Hunger and disease took a terrible toll both on the citizens and the refugees. Many people moved away to seek shelter elsewhere; but the obvious destination, Switzerland, was already overwhelmed with refugees and had instituted hard closures of all its borders.
Unlike most neighboring cities, Monza managed to hold together as an entity, but it had to transform itself. In the neighborhoods of St. Rocco and Cerdera, always socialist-leaning, people formed syndicalist collectives to regulate food production; the refugee camp in the Parco di Monza also had to organize food production. Mayor Malvezzi remained in his position, trying to coordinate these changes. Though a moderate conservative himself, he recognized the need to establish mutual aid. "I realize that in certain cases a red society is for the good of the struggling nation. When this is over, freedom will reign again." The following year was the start of the plan "Garden for Everyone " to improve the food supply. It was not enough, but it was the start of a transition to a new economy based on agricultural subsistence.
Monza's relative success in organizing the survivors allowed its influence to extend to some of the neighboring zones. Sesto St. Giovanni - once nicknamed "the Italian Stalingrad" after his strong working class and the presence of communist syndicates - followed the lead of Cerdera and St. Rocco and formed its own collective. The people of Sesto asked to be annexed to Monza. Malvezzi at first rejected this option, but eventually agreed to recognize Sesto as a "protected community" of the commune. This same status was soon extended to other nearby areas. They functioned as parts of the city and elected their own administrators, but did not have the right to vote for members of the citizens' assembly - the direct democratic body that was now running Monza.
Severe shortages of food and fresh water continued. In 1984 the collective of St. Rocco began a water purification project in the Lambro river with the goal of sharing water supplies equally: it was completed the next year when the city police evacuated the areas surrounding the city and the Monzese workforce transformed those areas into arable fields.
Another potential source of fresh water was Lake Como; Lecco at its southern tip was 40 km north of the city. By 1987 many Monzese were traveling to the lake to hunt, fish and forage. In 1987 the city established an official outpost at Lecco and began patrolling the road there, the so-called "Lecco trail". The outpost was named Modoeticula, Little Monza in Latin.
Joining the Alpine Confederation[]
The year 1987 was also the start of a major change in Austrian and Swiss policy. The hard border closure ended; now they sought to bring the border zones under their control. Monza was among the largest and best-organized of the refugee settlements of northern Italy; while conditions were still harsh, its direct democracy had brought some cohesion to the region. It lacked the resources to continue for very long, however. Without outside help, both Monza and the other settlements of northern Italy were sure to disintegrate before too long.
A joint Austro-Swiss contingent visited the city in the summer of that year and announced their governments' intention to administer the area as a protectorate. The Monzese insisted on putting the matter to a vote. The majority voted for "join": 85,9% in the protected communities and 77,3% in the commune itself, though in the collectivised neighborhoods "Join" won by a much narrower margin: 51,4% to accept, 49,6% to reject.
In 1997, Austria and Switzerland formed Alpine Confederation, and Monza's status was regularized. It became one of the AC's territories, encompassing a section of land between the Swiss border and the ruins of Milan.
Culture[]
Music[]
During the Communal period, no music was published in the city: radio communication wasn't working and producing music via vinyl or tape cassette was too costly. Famous songs from popular culture entered instead the folk tradition. In the recovery period of the Alpine Confederation, the music industry has started to grow, but Monza remains mostly unaffected; no studio was created in the commune. Instead, participatory folk music and concerts define the music of the city and the marketsy. One of the most successful concerts held in the city was Queen's in 1992 held for the Innuendo album tour,
Literature[]
As with music, no books were published in the city during the communal period, but some years after unification with the Alpine Confederation some Alpine books started to appear, a small Monzese group called "di Nuovo Libri" (Books, Again) started to translate and sell new books from all over the Alpine Confederation.
No book is published from the city, but a young Monzese author, Giacomo Cazzaniga, has recently published a book in Italian, "Coraggio, Storia di Riccardo Brambilla" (Courage, the story of Riccardo Brambilla) about the life of first and last administrator of the Protections, the most beloved political figure from the city, born and raised in the same neighbourhood of Cazzaniga, St.Rocco. Cazzaniga said "I wrote this book to show the story of my city and my proud and brave community of st. Rocco, and of our most iconic man: a fighter for the people."
Military[]
The Commune never had a military, only the police and the Carabinieri force, but an approved group of the militia was formed, the nationalist "Order of the Iron Crown" after the Iron Crown in the city's Cathedral, crown of the kings of Italy in the Middle Ages.
Police and carabinieri[]
Monzese police operated as a local force, but it is extremely weak, and the force was never enough to slow down the rampant crime in the postwar era. In case of clashes with protesters, they often had to retreat and pressure the Mayor to negotiate with the protest's leaders and with the trade unions.
Order of the Iron Crown[]
Named after the historical symbol of the Iron Crown, the order fought for the protection of the city, developing Campanilist (nationalism for your own city) and religious ideals. The order often led patrols of the "Lecco Trail" and put down rebellions in the territory of the city and the protectorates. the Order's Motto is "armati in nome di Dio e del Comune" (armed in name of God and the Commune).
The order is politically active and has strong anti-communist political goals. They tried to ban the PCI (the Communist Party of Italy) in 1986, failing, tried to shut down the collectives of St. Rocco and Cederna in 1987, and even tried in 1989 to overthrow the government of the commune. The leaders declared that they supported Christian Democracy over the Socialist and Communist Parties, but they still looked skeptically at the Malvezzi administration and its compromises with left-wing elements. They founded political party called "Partito Della Corona Ferrea" or PdCF (party of the Iron Crown), which was mostly unsuccessful in the elections.
The Order opposed the annexation into the Alpine confederation. Since then its importance in the city has diminished. It is still active to this day but it doesn't have any political power; the PdCF disbanded in 1990.