History of San Marino

The history of San Marino is typical for the Italian Peninsula, and yet helps explain its unusual characteristics as the sole remaining Italian microstate.

San Marino is the only surviving Italian microstate. Like Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco, it appears an anachronism, a reminder of the times when Europe — particularly Germany, Italy and the Pyrenees — was made up of tiny political units, sometimes extending no further than a cannon could fire from a city’s walls. Along with Vatican City and Lesotho it is one of the three states surrounded by a single other country. San Marino asserts its independence and various treaties of friendship have been signed with Italy since the latter’s unification.

San Marino, the world's fifth-smallest state, claims to be the world's oldest surviving republic. According to legend, San Marino was founded in 301 AD when a Christian stonemason known only via the single name: Marinus (lit. of the sea), later venerated as Saint Marinus, emigrated in 297 AD from the Dalmatian island of Rab, then a Roman colony, when the emperor Diocletian issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates. Marinus later became a Deacon and was ordained by Gaudentius, the Bishop of Rimini; shortly after, he was recognised and accused by an insane woman of being her estranged husband, whereupon he quickly fled to Monte Titano (Mount Titan, the highest of San Marino's peaks, itself surrounded by hills) to build a chapel-monastery and live as a hermit. There he built a chapel and monastery. Later, the State of San Marino would bud from the centre created by this monastery. Living in geographical isolation from the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians at the time, the mountain people were able to live peaceful lives. When the settlement of fearful mountain people was eventually discovered, the owner of the land, Felicissima, a sympathetic lady of Rimini, bequeathed it to the small Christian community of mountain dwellers, recommending to them to remain always united.

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