The Republic of San Marino

Near city wall of San Marino

It was quite an unusual Easter!  As we sailed toward Ravenna, Italy we participated in an ecumenical Sunrise Service to celebrate Easter Sunday.  Two years ago, we did the same at sea in the Eastern Mediterranean the day before reaching Athens and last year, on a bright, sunny Eastern morning, we were in the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and Mozambique.  The service this Easter was held on the aft of the walk around deck on a cloudy, blustery morning.  As we sang Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, the tune was totally unfamiliar. The sermon, while good, could have been given in August.  The ship made only the slightest gesture toward decorating for Easter unlike on our past two experiences.  Maybe it was because it was the first time in our experience that we visited a port on Easter Sunday.

We are now on the west coast of Italy less than 100 miles from Venice, near Ravenna, Italy.  While we have traveled to Italy several times (my 6th time), we have never been in this particular part of Italy.  The advantage of being on a smaller ship is that it makes it possible to get into some of the smaller ports.  But I had noticed that one of the possible shore excursions here was a visit to the tiny republic of San Marino and in fact my excursion was named The Republic of San Marino.  It was the first excursion that I decided that I definitely wanted to do, but after Barb’s back problem, both of us knew it wasn’t one she would be able to do at all.  It’s about an hour and a half from Ravenna, so once we docked ours was the first excursion to depart.  We traveled through lush green farm and orchard country was farmhouses off in the distance. I commented to our friend Alice, who was also doing this trip, that the landscape reminded me more of Illinois or Indiana farm country than Italy’s.  In this part of Italy, the land was flat and is a part of the Po River Valley.  Most of the rest of Italy’s terrain is more mountainous, or at least hilly with the southern Alps in northern Italy and the Apennine Mountains running the spine of Italy.  San Marino sits at the top of a mountain in the northern part of the Apennines. 

San Marino has an interesting history.  It was formed as a Christian community in 301 AD by Saint Marinus. He had been a stone cutter on the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic (primarily Croatia today). He climbed to the top of Mt. Titano to devote himself to solitude and prayer. A Roman noblewoman funded the gift of the mountain top to St. Marinus in gratitude for what she considered to be a miraculous healing of her son.   Over the years San Marino, perched at the top of the mountain, built an identity as a republic based on democracy and peace.  In fact today, San Marino, despite its tiny size with about 28,000 residents, is fully recognized by others as an independent country and holds membership in the United Nations.  It is the third smallest nation in the world behind The Vatican and Monaco.  San Marino is the world’s oldest republic and was even allowed its independence as the other Italian city-states were merging into the new nation of Italy in the 1870s.  There are two Captains Regent who govern the republic, and what also makes them so unusual is that they are elected every six months.  I imagine that can work in a nation of about 28,000 people but imagine the US having national elections every six months (although it seems like we do since campaigning is nonstop).  Certainly having an election to face within six months keeps officials fully aware how quickly they could lose their jobs!  In 2008, UNESCO recognized San Marino as another of its World Heritage Sites.

As we approached San Marino, our guide pointed out the mountain that had San Marino at its top.  We began climbing the mountain and what surprised me was that as we climbed, there were modern businesses, stores, and homes, all still a part of Italy.  As we reached San Marino, we were there was a small sign saying "San Marino” much like we would have designating a different town in the US.  We reached the city wall built initially of course to protect it from invasion as San Marino has a wonderful 360 view of the countryside below.  We left the bus and began to walk the steps which led us to the major city gate.  Our guide led us on a walking tour of the important historical parts of the city (nation).  The most important church was the Basilica of Saint Marinus.  Alice and I broke away from the group as we had a total of about 3 hours to explore the country.  It is literally one hill which leads to a turn and a further climb upward. San Marino is now a mixture of old historic churches, other buildings, and a fortress at the very summit of the mountain. Today, since a visit to San Marino is so intriguing, it has adapted to 21st century conveniences and has a large number of shops ranging from the ubiquitous souvenir shops to high end jewelry, ceramic, and clothing stores.  Our guide explained that its advantage is that San Marino can sell the same goods that might be offered in Italy for a cheaper price and that makes it attractive to shoppers.

Those of us who visited San Marino felt a sense of accomplishment having gone to such a tiny country in a difficult area to reach.  I can now add that to my list of destinations and am approaching the 100 destination mark to which travelers aspire.  It was an interesting day and did make for an exceptionally unique Easter.

CT