The story
goes like this. Stone mason and sometimes preacher
Marinus of Arba and his life-long
pal Leo were forced by some political
upheaval to leave their home of Rab, a Roman colony on
the island of Arba in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of what is
now Croatia. The two young men settled in the northern
Italian city of Rimini to find work reconstructing the city’s ruined walls.
But there they ran afoul
of the infamous persecution of
Christians ordered by the Emperor Diocletian
and had to flee the city.
At
the same time some of Marinus’s sermons as
an ordained Deacon were found
somehow at odds with the not-yet codified tenets of the Church so
he could find no refuge. The pair fled to the rugged, remote, and unpopulated Apennine Mountains determined to live as monastic hermits equally free of the
Emperor and the Pope. By tradition
on September 3, 301 CE Marius began
laying the stones of a chapel and
the establishment of a monastic
community.
Marinus died many years later in 366 with
the words Relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine—I leave you free from
both men—meaning the Emperor and the Pope.
By then his community had grown and prospered and the monastery high on
the top of Monte Titano had become a
haven for refugees persecuted
by both. It would remain so through the centuries.
Eventually
Marinus would be canonized as San Marino and the community that
sprang up around his Hermitage would become known as the Most Serene
Republic of San Marino. The tiny nation, occupying less than 24 square miles, has maintained its independence
ever since and celebrates September 3 not only as Marinus’s Feast Day,
but as foundation date of the Republic.
That makes San Marino easily the oldest surviving continuously sovereign state in the world, and because it never came under the rule of even a local nobleman or feudal governance by the Abby, also the oldest Republic. This was made possible by its isolation, the terrain so rugged that
it was said there was hardly a square
inch of level ground, location away from traditional trade routes and invasion
corridors, sometimes surprising
friends in High Places, and just
plain dumb luck.
In
its earliest years San Marino was informally ruled by the hermit monks of Church of St. Agatha on the top of
Monte Titan. This hardly was governance
of any meaningful kind. In the
early 400’s with Rome near collapse eight neighboring towns joined with
San Marino seeking protection from invading Goths. These communes became
the along with the original settlement became San Marino’s nine municipalities. With the expanded territory and population, the heads of families established themselves as ruling council known
as the Arengo which governed
from the 5th Century to 1243. By
then it had grown to representatives of more than 50 extended families and had
become a cumbersome body and was riven by feuds and rival
cabals.
The Sammarinese,
as citizens
are known, fed up by oligarchic rule
established their own Grand and General Council which Pope
Innocent IV, the titular head of
state, in one of the first acts of
his Papacy, recognized as the
country’s ruling body. Every six months
the Grand and General Council elected two Captains
Regent to co-hold executive power. They were not eligible for re-election, but could be returned to
the position on later occasions.
Traditionally the pair of Regents were drawn from opposing factions on the Council and since the adoption of a two party system, from each of the
political parties. This form of
governance was molded after the Senate and
Consuls of the old Roman Republic. This arrangement was codified the Leges
Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini—Constitution
of San Marino—recorded in a series of
six books written in Latin in
the late 1600. In 1631the Papacy waived its light
claims on San Marino and recognized its independence from the Papal
States.
If
maintaining essential independence for nearly 1400 years from the declining years of the Roman Empire,
through the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance when intrigue and war spread
across the Italian Peninsula as the
Papacy, ambitious city states, and
various leagues and alliances struggled for supremacy was
hard, the challenges of the Napoleonic
era, clash of Empires, and the rise of the European nation state was even more daunting.
In
1797 San Marino’s independence was threatened when Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Army was rampaging through Italy. Somehow Antonio
Onofri, one of the two serving Captains Regent,
managed to befriend the General and impress
him with his tale of San Marino’s long independence as a republic. Napoleon at this stage of his career was
still an ideologically committed Republican himself. Not only did he offer to guarantee and protect San
Marino’s independence, but he offered to award the country territory from
adjacent states. The grateful Grand and
General Council politely refused that off rightly fearing that accepting
a land grab would alienate more powerful neighbors and lead
to attacks when the French would inevitably eventually leave Italy.
An
even greater challenge was the long struggle of Italian unification that began after the final fall of Napoleon and
the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and
continued up to the final surrender of the Papal States and the location
of a capital at Rome for the Kingdom of Italy. San Marino began the period completely
surrounded by the Papal States. But in
1859 the rapidly expanding Kingdom of
Sardinia extended its borders over Central
Italy and San Marino lay astride the border between that Kingdom and the
Papal States. In accordance to its
traditions, San Marino became of place of refuge for many fleeing the fighting,
but especially for refugees from pro-unification
areas. In December 1860 the Papal province of Marche adjacent to San Marino was
incorporated in the Kingdom of Sardinia.
That
made San Marino an island in an area aflame for unification. In gratitude
and in recognition of the tiny nation’s long resistance to Papal rule, unification
leader Giuseppe Garibaldi prevailed
upon the soon-to-be King of Italy,
Victor Emanuel II who had led the Sarndinian-Piedmontese
forces which had captured Marche, to respect the traditional independence
of San Marino.
San
Marino was not immune from its own domestic
crisis. By the turn of the 20th Century the citizenry had become restive
under the Grand and General Council which had become increasingly
oligarchic. In a bold and unusual move
in 1906 the Sammarinese Socialist Party
agitated for and achieved a call to meeting of the ancient Arengo, where
the heads of families, under some public duress, voted to authorize universal manhood suffrage for the
first time in elections to the General Council.
The Socialists took advantage of the change to assume leadership of a majority coalition in the Council. The oligarchs formed a counter-party and bided their time for a chance to resume power.
The
eruption of World War I interrupted
the internal political struggles and put independence once again at risk. Italy initially entered the war on the side
of Austria-Hungary, honoring old
treaty obligations. Then in May of 1915,
Italy changed sides, declaring war on its former ally in hopes gaining
territory along the frontier between the countries. San Marino, however,
declared its neutrality, which was
taken as hostile by Italy which
feared that the small state could become a nest of Austrian spies and agents and that the country’s powerful new radio transmitter atop Monte Titano could be used by the enemy.
Italy
tried to force the occupation of San Marino by units of the Carabinieri paramilitary police which
the Republic refused and resisted. In
retaliation Italy cut San Marino’s telephone
lines and established a partial blockade. The Italians did not, however, invade the
country.
Still
within San Marino there was some popular support for the Italians. Small numbers of Sammarinese formed a volunteer unit to fight with the
Italians. Another volunteer group set up
a Red Cross field hospital. This was regarded as hostile by the
Austrians who broke diplomatic relations
and threatened the country should the front
move its way.
The
Italians fared poorly in a brutal campaign that turned into retreat and then
stalemate. The Sammarinese once again
offered shelter to refugees.
In
the aftermath of World War I the old oligarchic faction reorganized under Giuliano Gozi, one of the volunteers
with the Italian army and then serving as both Foreign Minister—effectively the leader of the Cabinet—and Interior
Minister which put him in control of the Army and police forces. Gozi founded the Sammarinese Fascist Party, modeled on the Italian Party, in 1922
and used street thugs to intimidate
the Socialists and syndicalists—unionists. In 1923 Gozi was elected the first
Fascist Captain Regent. After 1926 all
other parties were banned and until the end of World War II both Captains Regents were Fascist in contradiction to
the ancient Constitution. Although San Marino had become a single party state, Fascist power was not absolute, however, and independents continued to hold a
majority in the Grand and General Council until 1932. After that a split in Fascist ranks weakened
the Party.
Despite cordial relations with Mussolini and the Italian
Fascists, San Marino once again declared its traditional neutrality with
the outbreak of a general European War in 1939.
It had already not followed the Italian Party’s lead in adopting Anti-Jewish legislation in 1938. It had a small, but long-standing
Jewish population, and after persecution began in Italy some Jews found refuge
in San Marino. During the war anti-fascist Italian Partisans also
occasionally found secret refuge there, although the local Fascists expelled
those who were discovered.
In 1940 the New York Times erroneously reported
that San Marino had declared war on Britain. The Sammarinese government scrambled to wire London denying entering the war.
With the fall of Mussolini in Italy in July of 1943 and the subsequent
official separate peace with the Allies,
the Sammarinese Fascist Party lost power, although they were briefly
restored in 1944. The Fascists
reiterated neutrality in April of 1944 but the British bombed the country on
June 26 believing it was a repository for military supplies for the Germans. The government denied allowing munitions of any nation to be stored on
its territory.
In early September the Germans forcibly occupied
the country, the first and only time the country was overrun by a hostile
power. The Germans were already in
general retreat in Italy. On September
17 the 4th Indian Infantry Division
attacked the Nazis and ousted them in the brief Battle of San Marino. After
driving the Germans out the Indians quickly withdrew and left the country in
the control of its own armed forces.
The German occupation effectively finished the
Fascists as a political force in San Marino.
Multi-party parliamentary government was restored and in 1945 a
coalition led by the Communists
achieved a majority and ruled until 1957.
It was the first time anywhere in the world that Communists formed an
elected government.
The Grand and General Council was for years split
between multiple parties, some of them quite small, a mirror of the situation
in Italy. In 2008 a new election law put
restrictions on small parties forcing most of them out of existence or to join
coalitions. There were two main opposing
coalitions, the Pact for San Marino, led
by the Christian Democratic Party, and the United Left, led by the
Party of Socialists and Democrats, a merger of the Socialist Party and the
former communist Party of Democrats. Today the center-right party coalition is
the Republica Futura which was
formed by fusion of the Popular Alliance
(AP) and the Union for the Republic
(UPR). The other side has reformed as
the Democratic Socialist Left. The frequent turn-over of Captains
Regents has resulted in San Marino having more recognized female heads of state than any other nation in the world—15, including three who served twice.
Today San Marino is the smallest member of the Council of Europe but it is not a member
of the European Economic Union or
the European Parliament. None the less, it is by agreement allowed
to use the Euro as currency and as is customary has its own national images printed on the obverse side of notes, most of which
are snapped up by collectors.
With an economy relying heavily on finance, technical services,
and tourism, the approximately
35,000 residents enjoy the highest per
capita income in Europe and are the only country on the
continent with more automobiles than
people. Its citizens are also among the most highly educated in Europe. Unlike many small nations with substantial
finance industries, San Marino does not rely on being a tax shelter. There is a corporate profits tax rate of 19
percent. Capital gains are subject
to a five percent tax, and interest
is subject to a 13 percent withholding
tax. Foreigners use San Marino
banks for their renowned stability
and the high level of technical and personal services.
By agreement Italy is responsible for the general defense of San Marino, but the
country maintains a fairly sizable military
establishment for its size. This
includes colorful units with largely ceremonial duties including the Crossbow Corps, Guard of the Rock (also
a combat unit and border patrol), and Guard
of the Council Great and General (which protects the government). In addition every family with more than adult
two males is required to provide a member of the Company of Uniformed Militia. Participation
is so popular that it is over subscribed.
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