San Marino

**San Marino** (officially called the **Most Serene Republic of San Marino**) is a country in Europe. It is one of the smallest countries in the world. It is in Southern Europe and is fully surrounded by Italy (this is called an _enclave_, and only the Vatican City, Lesotho and San Marino are like this). Fewer than 30,000 people live there. Its total area is 61 km<sup>2</sup>. Its capital is the City of San Marino.

San Marino is claimed to be the world's oldest republic that still exists. It was started on September 3, 301 A.D. by a skilled builder called Saint Marinus. Its written constitution was adopted on October 8, 1600. The very small nation was recognized by Napoleon's France in 1797, and by the other European nations at the 1815 Congress of Vienna.

Even though it is an independent country, it depends very much on Italy. Since the 19th century, when Italy was unified, San Marino has been fully surrounded by Italy.

The biggest industry in San Marino is tourism. Selling postage stamps is an important source of income, too. San Marino is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is used in San Marino.

People in San Marino speak the Italian language. Most people in San Marino believe in Roman Catholicism.

## History

Saint Marinus left the island of Rab (today Croatia) with his lifelong friend Leo, and went to the city of Rimini to work as a stonemason. After the Persecution of Diocletianus following his Christian sermons, he escaped to the nearby Monte Titano. There he built a small church and founded what is now the city and state of San Marino.

The official founding date is 3 September 301 AD. In 1320 the community of Chiesanuova chose to join the country. In 1463 San Marino extended with the communities of Faetano, Fiorentino, Montegiardino, and Serravalle. Since then there have been no changes in the country's borders.

In 1503, Cesare Borgia occupied the Republic for six months. It remained like that until Pope Julius II intervened and restored the country's independence.

## Geography

San Marino is covered by the Apennine mountain range, and it has a rugged terrain with no natural level ground. The highest point in the country is Monte Titano. There are no bodies of water of any significant size. It is between the Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche.

San Marino is the third smallest country in Europe, Only Vatican City and Monaco are smaller.

Two rivers flow through San Marino. There is no major water transport, and no major port or harbour.

## Municipalities

These are the 9 _castelli_ (municipalities) of San Marino:

|colspan="6"  style="text-align:center; background:orange;"|**Cities in San Marino**|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Rank**|**City**|**Area km<sup>2</sup>** || colspan="3"  style="text-align:center; background:#98fb98;"| **Population**||||
|**1986**|**1996**|**2006**||||
|1.|Serravalle|10.53|6,995|8,085|9,847|
|2.|Borgo Maggiore|9.01|4,421|5,358|6,061|
|3.|City of San Marino|7.09|4,179|4,350|4,409|
|4.|Domagnano|6.62|1,885|2,207|2,899|
|5.|Fiorentino|6.56|1,478|1,798|2,253|
|6.|Acquaviva|4.86|1,148|1,264|1,881|
|7.|Faetano|7.75|738|870|1,139|
|8.|Chiesanuova|5.46|724|866|1036|
|9.|Montegiardino|3.31|557|717|843|
||**San Marino**|61.19|22,125|25,515|30,368|

## Food

The food of San Marino is very similar to Italian, especially the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions. It has a lots of its own unique foods. It's best known food is the _Torta Tre Monti_ ("Cake of the Three Mountains" or "Cake of the Three Towers"), a wafer cake covered in chocolate. The country also has a small wine industry.

## Public holidays and festivals

|Date|Name|Explanation|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1 January|_New Year's Day_|Festival marking the beginning of the new year.|
|6 January|_Epiphany_|Commemorates the visit of the three Wise Men or _magi_ to the infant Jesus.|
|5 February|_Feast of Saint Agatha_|Commemoration of St. Agatha, Patroness of the Republic, as well as liberation from foreign rule.|
|_variable_ *|_Easter_|Resurrection of Jesus.|
|_variable_ **|_Easter Monday_|Monday after Easter day.|
|25 March|_Anniversary of the Arengo_|Anniversary of the Arengo and the _Festa delle Milizie (Feast of the Militants)_.|
|1 May|_Labour Day_|Celebration of workers and employees.|
|_variable_ ***|_Corpus Domini_|Commemoration of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.|
|28 July|_Liberation from Fascism_|Commemoration of the fall of the Sammarinese Fascist Party.|
|15 August|_Ferragosto (Assumption)_|Commemoration of the Virgin Mary's direct assumption into heaven upon her death.|
|3 September|_The Feast of San Marino and the Republic_|National feast of San Marino, celebrating the origin of the Republic in 301.|
|1 November|_All Saints' Day_|Feast dedicated to all saints.|
|2 November|_Commemoration of all those who died at war_|Remembrance of all those who gave their lives for San Marino in war.|
|8 December|_Immaculate Conception_|Remembrance of the Virgin Mary's conception without original sin.|
|24 December|_Christmas Eve_|Day before the commemoration of the birth of Jesus.|
|25 December|_Christmas_|Birth of Jesus.|
|26 December|_St. Stephen's Day_|Commemoration of the death of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr.|
|31 December|_New Year's Eve_|Celebration which closes and marks the end of the year.|
|colspan="3"|<small>_* Easter: the first Sunday after the full moon and the March equinox_ _** Easter Monday: the Monday after Easter day_ _*** Corpus Domini: the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday_ </small>||

## Infobox (country)

- **conventional long name**: Republic of San Marino
- **common name**: San Marino
- **image flag**: Flag of San Marino.svg
- **alt flag**: Flag of San Marino
- **image coat**: Coat of arms of San Marino.svg
- **alt coat**: Coat of arms of San Marino
- **symbol type**: Coat of arms
- **national motto**:

- **national anthem**: _Inno Nazionale della Repubblica_

- **image map**: Location San Marino Europe.png
- **alt map**: Location of San Marino in Europe
- **capital**: City of San Marino
- **largest settlement**: Dogana

- **largest settlement type**: settlement
- **official languages**: Italian language, Italian
- **religion**: 97% Roman Catholicism
3% Other
- **demonym**: Sammarinese
- **government type**: Unitary state, Unitary List of countries by system of government#Assembly-independent republican systems, assembly-independent Diarchy, diarchic Directorial system, directorial republic
- **leader title1**: Captains Regent
- **leader name1**: Matteo Rossi
Lorenzo Bugli
- **leader title2**: Foreign Minister
- **leader name2**: :en:Luca Beccari, Luca Beccari
- **legislature**: Grand and General Council
- **sovereignty type**: Independence
- **established event1**: from Roman Empire
- **established date1**: September 3, 301 A.D.
- **area km2**: 61.2
- **area rank**: 190th
- **percent water**: 0
- **population estimate**: 34,232
- **population estimate year**: 2020
- **population estimate rank**: 221st
- **population density km2**: 520
- **population density rank**: 23rd
- **gdp ppp year**: 2017
- **gdp ppp rank**: 175th
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $60,651
- **gdp ppp per capita rank**: 11th
- **gdp nominal year**: 2017
- **gdp nominal rank**: 174th
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $44,947
- **gdp nominal per capita rank**: 13th
- **hdi**: 0.875
- **hdi year**: 2013
- **hdi rank**: 26th
- **currency**: Euro (Euro sign, €)
- **currency code**: EUR
- **time zone**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset**: +01
- **utc offset dst**: +02
- **time zone dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **drives on**: right
- **calling code**: +378 (+39 0549 calling via Italy)
- **patron saint**: Saint Marinus
Saint Agatha
- **cctld**: .sm
- **footnote a**: By tradition.
- **footnote b**: List of countries by Human Development Index#UN member states (latest UNDP data).
- **footnotes**: Sources:
- **established event2**: Constitution of San Marino, Constitution
- **established date2**: October 8, 1600
(statutes)