Few places in the world have the personality of the City of San Marino. Perched on the rocky ridges of Mount Titano, it is the capital of the oldest sovereign republic on the planet, an independent state that according to tradition was born in the year 301 and has managed to keep its freedom for more than seventeen centuries, completely surrounded by Italy. Walking its cobbled streets, among medieval walls, crenellated towers and balconies with views stretching all the way to the Adriatic Sea, is a glimpse into a unique story of stubborn independence.
Its heart is Piazza della Libertà, presided over by the Palazzo Pubblico, the seat of government, where in summer the colourful Changing of the Guard takes place with the historic uniforms of the Guard of the Rock. A few steps away stands the neoclassical Basilica del Santo, dedicated to Saint Marinus, the stonemason who founded the republic, and a network of sloping lanes packed with shops: San Marino is famous for good-value shopping, its postage stamps and collectors' coins, and its well-known tourist stamp in your passport.
This guide covers the essentials of the capital with a practical, friendly eye: how to get there and get around the mountain, what to see in Piazza della Libertà and the Basilica, how the state museums and the passport stamp work, where to eat, and how to combine the visit with the Three Towers and Borgo Maggiore. The City of San Marino is one of those destinations that surprise you: tiny, steep, proud of its history and with views that take your breath away.
According to tradition, San Marino was founded in the year 301 by Marinus, a Christian stonemason from the island of Rab (in present-day Croatia) who, fleeing persecution, took refuge on Mount Titano and founded a community there. Before dying he is said to have spoken the words that became the country's motto: «Relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine» («I leave you free from both men»), referring to the Emperor and the Pope. Over the centuries that monastic community grew into a small commune that organised itself as an independent republic in the Middle Ages, adopted its famous Statutes of 1600 —considered the oldest written constitution in the world still in force— and managed to preserve its sovereignty against popes, feudal lords and great powers. San Marino maintained a policy of neutrality that, during the Second World War, led it to shelter some 100,000 people fleeing the bombing, despite having barely 15,000 inhabitants. Today it is a republic governed by two Captains Regent who are replaced every six months, a direct heir to that medieval tradition. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The heart of the republic: the city of San Marino clinging to Mount Titano, its three towers that are the country's emblem and the market town of Borgo Maggiore at its feet, all of it a World Heritage Site.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
High on Mount Titano, between stone and wind, the oldest republic in the world was born, according to tradition. Its origins go back to the year 301 and to Marinus, a Christian stonemason who came from Arbe (the island of Rab, in present-day Croatia, then part of the Roman Empire). Tradition says that Marinus, fleeing the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian, worked as a stonecutter rebuilding the walls of the port of Rimini. Seeking a life of retreat and prayer, he then took refuge on the summit of Mount Titano, where he founded a small community of believers.
Over time, that community organised itself as a free commune. Before he died, Marinus is said to have spoken the words that became the country's founding motto: «Relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine» (“I leave you free from both men”). The two men were the two great powers of the age, the Emperor and the Pope. That phrase sums up the calling San Marino has defended for more than seventeen centuries: to bow to no lord and to keep its freedom and independence.
As with many founding stories, the historical Marinus is intertwined with hagiographic legend, and the exact date of 301 is more a symbol than a documented fact. What can be verified is that a religious community, and later a civil one, existed on Mount Titano from early on and gradually asserted its autonomy. Marinus was canonised as Saint Marinus, patron and founder of the republic, and his relics are venerated today beneath the altar of the Basilica del Santo, in the capital that bears his name.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the community on Mount Titano built up its own institutions of government. It used its isolated position and strong identity to stay out of the reach of the great feudal lords who were fighting over Romagna and the Marche. Assemblies of residents are already documented in the 13th century, and around 1243 the first Captains Regent appear. These two magistrates served as joint heads of the community, a formula inherited from the consuls of ancient Rome that is still in place today.
The foundation of political life was the Arengo, the assembly of heads of household, which originally took the major decisions. In time its functions passed to a council (today's Great and General Council, the Parliament), but the principle that sovereignty lies with the community of free citizens remained a defining trait. Little by little, San Marino became an oligarchic but self-governing republic, able to negotiate its neutrality with popes and neighbouring lords.
That long process took shape in a written legal code: the Statutes of the Republic (Leges Statutae), whose most complete and lasting version was set down in 1600. Written in Latin, the Statutes of 1600 organise the republic's institutions, justice and civil life, and they are considered the oldest written constitution in the world still in force. Together with the 1974 Declaration of the Rights of Citizens, they form the basis of San Marino's legal system. This unbroken institutional continuity is what makes San Marino unique in the political history of Europe.
Holding on to independence for so many centuries was not easy for such a small territory surrounded by bigger powers. San Marino had to navigate wars, the ambitions of local lords and attempts at annexation. In 1463 the republic joined an alliance against Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, lord of Rimini. After his defeat, Pope Pius II rewarded San Marino with the castles of Fiorentino, Montegiardino and Serravalle, and Faetano was added soon after. From then on the country's territory was fixed with practically its current borders, and it has not changed since.
One of the best-remembered episodes is the so-called “Alberoni affair”. In October 1739, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, papal governor of Ravenna, occupied San Marino by force, intending to annex it to the Papal States. The people of San Marino resisted through civil disobedience and appealed directly to Pope Clement XII, who recognised the republic's rights and ordered the troops to withdraw. Freedom was restored, and the episode strengthened national pride and identity.
At the end of the 18th century, when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy, many feared the tiny state would disappear. Yet in 1797 Napoleon respected San Marino's independence and even offered to enlarge its territory, an offer the republic wisely turned down so as not to make enemies. Years later, the Congress of Vienna of 1815, which reorganised Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, also recognised San Marino's sovereignty. Time and again, diplomacy, neutrality and resolve allowed this tiny country to survive while kingdoms and republics rose and fell around it.
San Marino's peaceful, neutral calling had one of its most admirable chapters during the Second World War. Although the country had lived under a fascist-inspired regime in the 1930s, San Marino declared its neutrality in September 1939 and formally stayed out of the conflict, even when neighbouring Italy entered the war in 1940.
The most extraordinary gesture came when the front line approached the region. As Italian cities were bombed and the Gothic Line became a battlefield between German troops and the Allies, thousands of civilians sought refuge in the small republic. San Marino, with barely 15,000 inhabitants, took in and sheltered some 100,000 displaced people from nearby areas, a show of solidarity far out of proportion to its size. Whole families crowded onto Mount Titano, into houses, churches, tunnels and even the funivia and its galleries.
Despite its neutrality, San Marino did not escape the war. On 26 June 1944 it was bombed by the British air force, leaving dozens dead; the United Kingdom later acknowledged the mistake and paid the country compensation. In September 1944 a brief battle was even fought on its territory, when Allied troops drove out the German forces that had entered the country. Once the war was over, San Marino fully regained its neutrality and its institutional life. That episode of mass hospitality remains one of the noblest moments in its history.
San Marino's form of government is one of its most distinctive features, and the one that best links its present to its medieval and Roman roots. The republic is headed by two Captains Regent (Capitani Reggenti), who jointly serve as head of state. They are elected by the Great and General Council, the Parliament, every six months and take office on two fixed dates each year: 1 April and 1 October, in a formal investiture ceremony full of ritual and historical dress.
This dual leadership, with two heads of state who keep each other in check and serve short terms, is directly inspired by the consuls of the ancient Roman Republic. It is a safeguard designed to stop power from being concentrated in one person. The Captains Regent represent the state, promulgate laws and uphold the constitutional order, but they do not run day-to-day affairs: that falls to the Congress of State (the government) and to Parliament. The system has proved remarkably stable over the centuries.
The historic centre of the capital is the living stage of this institutional continuity, with the Palazzo Pubblico as the seat of government, the Piazza della Libertà, the Basilica del Santo and the Three Towers on Titano. In 2008 UNESCO added the historic centre of San Marino and Mount Titano to the World Heritage List, recognising it as an exceptional testimony to a tradition of republican government that has continued unbroken since the Middle Ages. Today San Marino is a small, prosperous state whose economy rests on tourism, finance and industry. It still issues its own stamps and coins and proudly holds the title of the oldest sovereign republic in the world.
