History of San Marino

from the sea), later venerated as Saint Marinus, emigrated in 297 AD from the Dalmatian island of Rab, when Emperor Diocletian issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini, destroyed by Liburnian pirates.

[1] 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 to build a chapel and monastery and live as a hermit.

The first attested government structure was composed of a self-governed assembly known as the Arengo, which consisted of the heads of each family (as in the original Roman Senate, the Patres).

[6] The land area of San Marino consisted only of Mount Titano until 1463, at which time the republic entered into an alliance against Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, duke of Rimini, who was later defeated.

[8] On 4 June 1543 Fabiano di Monte San Savino, nephew of the later Pope Julius III, attempted to conquer the republic in a plan involving 500 infantry men and some cavalry.

The group failed as they got lost in a dense fog, which the Sammarinese attributed to Saint Quirinus, whose feast day it was, and which afterwards has been celebrated annually in the country.

Napoleon was won to the commonality in cause with the ideals of liberty and humanity extolled in San Marino's humble founding and wrote in recognition of its cultural value in a letter to Gaspard Monge, scientist and commissary of the French Government for the Sciences and the Arts who was at the time stationed in Italy;[15] further promising to guarantee and protect the independence of the Republic even so far as offering to extend its territory according to its needs.

[17] Napoleon's treatment of San Marino may be better understood in light of the ongoing French Revolution (1789–1799) where France was undergoing drastic political reform.

Being a surviving example of republican institution, not only under threat of Papal interference but also not hostile to the French Republic (as Venice Genoea, or Switzerland) may have gained enough sympathy to secure independence.

The sympathy of Republicanist advocates inside the Italian "Risorgimento" movement, the hospitality and asylum granted to unionist supporters and a general disinterest, played again in favour of Sammarinese independence.

Lincoln accepted the offer, writing in reply with his Secretary of State, William H. Seward that San Marino proved that "government founded on republican principles is capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring.

"[20] Presaging a theme he would bring to the fore, using similar language, in his Gettysburg Address in 1863, Lincoln wrote: "You have kindly adverted to the trial through which this Republic is now passing.

[21] Towards the end of the 19th century, San Marino experienced economic depression: a large increase in the birth rate coupled with a widening of the gap between agricultural and industrial development led people to seek their fortunes in more industrialised countries.

[citation needed] The Sammarinese first sought seasonal employment in Tuscany, Rome, Genoa and Trieste, but in the latter half of the century whole families were uprooted, with the first permanent migrations to the Americas (United States, Argentina and Uruguay) and to Greece, Germany and Austria.

In the same year a second referendum took place on May 5 dealing with the first electoral laws and on June 10 the first political elections in San Marino's history resulted in a victory of the exponents of democracy.

Italy, suspecting that San Marino could harbour Austrian spies who could be given access to its new radiotelegraph station, tried to forcefully establish a detachment of Carabinieri on its territory and then suspended any telephone connections with the Republic when it did not comply.

As in Italy, fascism, under the Sammarinese Fascist Party led by Giuliano Gozi, eventually took over government of San Marino, causing the Socialist newspaper, Nuovo Titano, to cease publication.

[33] Such fears were confirmed when on 30 July a German medical corps colonel presented himself with an order for the requisition of two public buildings for the establishment of a military hospital.

[34] San Marino was a refuge for over 100000 civilians[35] who sought safety on the passing of Allied forces over the Gothic Line[1] during the Battle of Rimini, an enormous effort of relief by the inhabitants of a country that at that time counted only 15,000 people.

In 2002 San Marino signed a treaty with the OECD, agreeing to greater transparency in banking and taxation matters to help combat tax evasion.

[45] It was once declared "Covid-free" on 26 June 2020,[46] although on 9 July it had another case, and while this had recovered by the end of the month, the epidemics has returned later and most of recorded covid-assigned fatalities had happened after that.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, San Marino became the smallest country to earn a medal, as Alessandra Perilli and Gian Marco Berti won silver in the mixed trap shooting event.