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Summary Filettino is trying to go independent and mint its own money in protest at govt austerity cuts.
A small town in Italy, Filettino, set in rugged hill country around 100 km east of Rome, is rebelling against a proposal to merge the governments of towns with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants to save money.Filettino has only around 550 people, but instead of merging with neighboring Trevi, Mayor Luca Sellari is trying to go it alone and set up a “principality” along the lines of the famous republic of San Marino to the north.“We aim to achieve real autonomy from Italy and we have the financial resources to do it,” Sellari said. There was no immediate comment from the central government in Rome.Mayors from all over Italy are up in arms about proposals to cut local government funding and merge small towns as part of a 45.5 billion euro ($65.3 billion) austerity plan to balance the countrys budget by 2013.
