San Marino

San Marino clings to Monte Titano, a limestone ridge in the Apennine foothills with a view down to the Adriatic beaches at Rimini, and is entirely surrounded by Italy. Three towers, the Guaita, the Cesta and the Montale, stand along the summit’s cliff edge, with the walled old town packed beside them. Below, woods and farmland fall to the valleys of the Ausa and the Marano and to townships called castelli, such as Borgo Maggiore, Serravalle and Domagnano.

By tradition the republic was founded in AD 301 by Marinus, a stonemason from the island of Rab fleeing Diocletian’s persecutions. It survived as a hilltop commune ruled by the Arengo, an assembly of family heads, and set down its laws in the Statutes of 1600. Two Captains Regent have shared the headship of state, six months at a time, since the thirteenth century. Napoleon offered to enlarge it in 1797 and was refused, Garibaldi found shelter here in 1849, and a treaty of 1862 kept it independent of united Italy.

Each April and October the new Captains Regent are installed amid drummers and crossbowmen in Renaissance dress, and the crossbow corps holds its palio in September. Torta Tre Monti, wafer layers and chocolate named for the three peaks, is the classic sweet. Tourism, banking, small factories making ceramics and furniture, and stamps for collectors provide a living, and the San Marino Grand Prix was run at Imola, across the border, from 1981 to 2006.