As the only surviving medieval commune in the Italian Peninsula, the history of San Marino is intertwined with the medieval, Renaissance and modern-day history of the Italian peninsula, according to tradition beginning with its foundation in 301 AD.
Like Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco, it is a surviving example of the typical medieval microstate of Germany, Italy and the Pyrenees.
Origins Foundation myth
According to legend, San Marino was founded in 301 AD when a Christian stonemason Marinus (lit. 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. 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.Radovan Radovinovič, The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide, pg. 127, Zagreb (1999), Later, the State of San Marino would bud from the centre created by this monastery. Living in geographical isolation from the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians at the time, the mountain people were able to live peaceful lives. When this settlement of "refugee" mountain people was eventually discovered, the owner of the land, Felicissima, a sympathetic lady of Rimini, bequeathed it to the small Christian community of mountain dwellers, recommending to them to remain always united. This foundation tale is at the base of San Marino's claim to be the world's oldest surviving republic.
According to William Miller, these accounts of the origin of San Marino "are a mixture of fables and miracles, but perhaps contain some grains of fact".
Documents Evidence of the existence of a community on Mount Titano dates back to the Middle Ages. That evidence comes from a monk named Eugippio, who reports in several documents going back to 511 that another monk lived here.
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). In 1243, the positions of Captains Regent () were established to be the joint heads of state. The state's earliest statutes date back to 1263. The Holy See confirmed the independence of San Marino in 1631."San Marino," U.S. Department of State, 10/05, 2009–2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/sanmarino/55324.htm
Early Middle Ages and Renaissance In quick succession, the lords of Montefeltro, the Malatesta of Rimini, and the lords of Urbino attempted to conquer the little town, but without success. In 1320 the community of Chiesanuova chose to join the country. 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. As a result, Pope Pius II gave San Marino some castles and the towns of Fiorentino, Montegiardino and Serravalle. Later that year, the town of Faetano joined the republic on its own accord. Since then, the size of San Marino has remained unchanged.
In 1503, Cesare Borgia occupied the Republic until the death of his father some months later.
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.Nevio and Annio Maria Matteimi The Republic of San Marino: Historical and Artistic Guide to the City and the Castles, 2011, p. 20.
Having faced many potential threats, a treaty of protection was signed in 1602 with Pope Clement VIII, which came into force in 1631.Nevio and Annio Maria Matteimi The Republic of San Marino: Historical and Artistic Guide to the City and the Castles, 2011, p. 21.
Modern Period Statutes of 1600 The basis of San Marino's government is the multi-document Constitution of San Marino, the first components of which were promulgated and became effective on 1 September 1600. Whether these documents amount to a written constitution depends upon how one defines the term. The political scientist Jorri Duursma claims that "San Marino does not have an official constitution as such. The first legal documents which mentioned San Marino's institutional organs were the Statutes of 1600."
Alberonian occupation On 17 October 1739, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, Papal Governor of Ravenna, used military force to occupy the country, imposed a new constitution, and endeavored to force the Sammarinese to submit to the government of the Papal States. He was aiding certain rebels, and acting possibly contrary to the orders of Pope Clement XII. However, civil disobedience occurred, and clandestine notes were written to the Pope to appeal for justice. On 5 February 1740, three and a half months after the occupation began, the Pope recognised San Marino's rights, restoring independence. 5 February is the feast day of Saint Agatha, after which she became a patron saint of San Marino.Nevio and Annio Maria Matteimi The Republic of San Marino: Historical and Artistic Guide to the City and the Castles, 2011, p. 23.
Napoleonic Wars After Napoleon's campaign of Italy, San Marino found itself on the border between the Kingdom of Italy and long-time ally the Papal States. On 5 February 1797, when, with the arrival of a letter from General Louis Alexandre Berthier addressed to the Regents, it was required to arrest and consign the Bishop of Rimini, Vincenzo Ferretti, accused of instigating crimes against the French Empire, who fled with all his possessions to San Marino and refusal would result in the immediate intervention of French troops.
The Government of San Marino replied that it would do everything possible to fulfill the request, even though, in reality, the bishop was able to flee across the border.
A solution was found by one of the Regents, Antonio Onofri, who inspired in Napoleon a friendship and respect toward the sovereign state. 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;Alain Queruel, Les francs-maçons de l'Expédition d'Egypte, Editions du Cosmogone, 2012. further promising to guarantee and protect the independence of the Republic even so far as offering to extend its territory according to its needs. While grateful for the former, the offer of territorial expansion was politely declined by San Marino.Nevio and Annio Maria Matteimi The Republic of San Marino: Historical and Artistic Guide to the City and the Castles, 2011, p. 27.
Napoleon issued orders that exempted San Marino's citizens from any type of taxation and gave them 1,000 quintals (over 2,200 lb or 1,000 kg) of wheat as well as four cannons; although the cannons were ultimately never brought into San Marino.
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 were Venice, Genoa, and Switzerland), San Marino may have gained enough sympathy to secure independence. The state was recognized by Napoleon by the Treaty of Tolentino, in 1797. Onofri would keep negotiating favourable terms with the Northern Italian "Sister Republics" and later Kingdom of Italy.
19th century The Congress of Vienna ratified San Marino's independence in 1815.
In 1825 and 1853, new attempts to submit it to the Papal States failed.
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. The most notorious event was covering Giuseppe Garibaldi's retreat with 250 followers towards Venice after the fall of the 1849 Roman Republic.
Although faced with many hardships (with his wife Anita who was carrying their fifth child dying near Comacchio before they could reach the refuge), the hospitality received by Giuseppe in San Marino would later prove to be a shaping influence on Giuseppe's diplomatic manner, presaging the themes and similar language used in his political correspondences such as his letter to Joseph Cowen. Garibaldi promised to honor San Marino's desire not to be included in the Italian unification, and pressured king Victor Emmanuel II to call off a planned annexation of San Marino in 1860.
In the spring of 1861, shortly before the beginning of the American Civil War, the government of San Marino wrote a letter to United States President Abraham Lincoln in "perfect Italian on one side, and imperfect but clear English on the other"; this letter proposed an "alliance" between the two democratic nations and offering the President honorary San Marino citizenship. 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." 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. It is one of deep import. It involves the question whether a Representative republic, extended and aggrandized so much as to be safe against foreign enemies can save itself from the dangers of domestic faction. I have faith in a good result...."
After the unification of the Kingdom of Italy a treaty in 1862 confirmed San Marino's independence, later revised in 1872.
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. 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. This phenomenon lasted up to the 1970s, with a pause during the First World War and an increase during the Fascist period in Italy. Even today there are still large concentrations of San Marino citizens residing in foreign countries, above all, in the United States, in France and in Argentina. There are more than 15,000 San Marino citizens spread throughout the world.
20th century