San Marino is a tiny landlocked country surrounded entirely by Italy, perched on and around the slopes of Monte Titano near the Adriatic coast. It claims the distinction of being the oldest surviving republic in the world, tracing its foundation to the early fourth century, and it has clung to its independence through more than seventeen centuries while empires and kingdoms rose and fell around it. A microstate of medieval towers, steep streets, and proud traditions, it lives today on tourism, finance, and the sale of its famous postage stamps and coins.
According to tradition, San Marino was founded in the year 301 by a Christian stonemason named Marinus, who fled persecution and established a community on Monte Titano, from which the republic takes its name. Over the centuries the little state preserved its independence with remarkable tenacity, protected by its mountain stronghold and by a careful neutrality, even sheltering refugees at times of upheaval. It survived the unification of Italy that swallowed every other small state around it, and remains a sovereign republic, governed under statutes that are among the oldest constitutional documents still in use.
San Marino is a very small country dominated by the rugged limestone ridge of Monte Titano, which rises sharply from the surrounding Italian countryside near the Adriatic Sea. The historic capital clings to the upper slopes and summit of the mountain, crowned by three medieval towers that are the emblem of the nation, while the rest of the territory spreads over the surrounding hills and valleys. The elevated position gives sweeping views across the Romagna region to the sea, and the dramatic mountain setting has defined both the country's defence and its identity.
The flag of San Marino has two horizontal bands of white over light blue, with the national coat of arms in the centre. The white is said to represent the snow of Monte Titano and peace, and the blue the sky and liberty. The coat of arms depicts the three towers that stand on the peaks of Monte Titano, each topped with a feather, encircled by a wreath and crowned, beneath a scroll bearing the word Libertas, liberty, the proud watchword of the world's oldest republic.
San Marino is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, a faith bound up with its very origins in the legend of the devout stonemason Marinus, and Catholicism is deeply woven into the culture, the festivals, and the historic churches of the little state. The patron saint's day is a major national occasion, and the Church remains an important presence in Sammarinese life. While the republic guarantees religious freedom and is home to small numbers of other faiths, its identity and traditions are profoundly shaped by its long and continuous Catholic heritage.
The cuisine of San Marino is essentially that of the surrounding Italian region of Romagna and the neighbouring Marche, rich in pasta, meat, and local produce. Filled and baked pasta dishes, roasted meats, and hearty country cooking feature strongly, and the republic has its own celebrated specialities, above all the torta tre monti, a layered wafer-and-chocolate cake named for the three towers and peaks of Monte Titano. Local wines and liqueurs accompany the food, which, like so much of Sammarinese life, blends the country's own traditions with those of the Italy that envelops it.
Agriculture, once the mainstay of the small mountain republic, still occupies a place in San Marino, with the hills and valleys around Monte Titano given over to vineyards, olive groves, orchards, and the growing of wheat and other crops, along with the raising of livestock. The country produces its own wine and cheese. Farming, however, now contributes only a small share of the economy, which depends chiefly on tourism drawn by the historic towers and the novelty of the ancient microstate, on banking and finance, and on the sale of stamps and coins.
The legendary foundation in the year 301 and the republic's extraordinary survival as an independent state for more than seventeen centuries, outlasting the Roman Empire, the medieval city-states, and the unification of Italy, are the defining wonders of San Marino's history. The little republic famously gave refuge to the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi when he was pursued by his enemies. It maintained neutrality through the world wars and remains today a proud, fully sovereign nation, a living relic of the age of independent city-states.
San Marino has a population of only around 34,000 people, almost all of them Sammarinese, an Italian people with their own strong sense of national identity, along with a number of Italian and other residents. The language is Italian, spoken in a local dialect. The population is spread among the capital, the City of San Marino, on its mountain, and a handful of villages and the larger town of Dogana on the plain below. Closely tied to Italy in language, culture, and economy, the Sammarinese nonetheless cherish their independence as citizens of the world's oldest republic.
