Fairytale Castles

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We haven’t managed to visit a country so far on this trip that neither of us have been to before, but hopefully that all changes today. I’ve booked a bus ride to the mighty Republic of San Marino which is an hour south-west of Rimini. It’s also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, so hopefully it should be a day free of violence.

I read that San Marino’s only 61 square kilometres in area, which makes it the world’s fifth smallest country after the Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru and Tuvalu. One of its other main claims to fame is that it’s generally regarded as the world’s oldest still existing republic. Its origins date all the way back to 301 AD to a Dalmatian stonecutter by name of San Marino. He set up a small Christian community on Mount Titano, the country’s highest peak, after fleeing persecution by the Roman emperor Diocletian. He was then gifted the land by a rich benefactress from Rimini. His last words were something along the lines of “I leave you free from the Emperor and the Pope”, and this utterance has been used as the basis for the country’s independence for the past two thousand years or so … and also apparently to get it out of having to pay any taxes to Italy or any of that country’s predecessor governments.

The Republic’s a member of the United Nations, and whilst it “maintains official relations” with the EU it’s not a member. I’m not quite sure exactly what this means - hopefully they’ll let me in; I’m halfway there now so it’s a bit late to go back and get my passport.

I get my first glimpse of the mighty Republic out of the bus window - fairytale-like castles perched precariously on the tops of precipitously steep cliffs. Mount Titano is a decent hill at 739 metres. The whole place looks even more fairytale-like in close-up, and the views down over the surrounding countryside and back to the coast are absolutely stunning.

First stop is the very stately looking Basilica del Santo Marino which I read was only built relatively recently in 1836. It’s very elegant, with liberal use of columns both inside and out. It’s got a lot less fancy decoration than most of the other churches we’ve been used to seeing both in Italy and Spain, which somehow seems like a good thing. We both can’t help but think that you could feed a lot of hungry people with all that gold. As I wait to go in it’s a bit hard not to notice the dress code - no bare shoulders or short pants for the ladies. One couple tries to go in with their dog. Perhaps unsurprisingly this is also not allowed …. but if they pick it up and carry it, well come on through. Hmmm.

I suspect you don’t have to be a mountain goat to live here but it probably wouldn’t hurt. Next cab off the rank is a steep climb up to the Guaita Tower. It’s the oldest of the so-called Three Towers of San Marino and was built in the eleventh century. It’s not however the highest, that honour goes to the Cesta Tower which was built in the thirteenth century, apparently on the remains of an old Roman fort. The Cesta’s closed for repairs at the moment, but the Guaita’s open for business. I queue up for the last bit of the climb. It starts off as a steep ladder which then quickly degenerates into a series of metal bars shaped into rungs set into the wall. But that’s not the main issue … that would be the size of the hole through the stone floor you need to squeeze through to make it up the “ladder”. I think I should be alright, I’ve been trying to lay off the pasta, but it’s the large Filipino gent immediately ahead of me that I’m not quite so sure about. If he gets wedged in there the people already up the tower have got a long night ahead of them. The views down over the countryside and across to the Cesta Tower are absolutely breathtaking.

After a lot of aimless wandering through the impossibly cute streets I find myself standing in front of the very imposing looking Palazzo Pubblico della Repubblica di San Marino, the Republic’s seat of government. I catch the very tail end of a ceremony involving uniformed gents with swords disappearing back inside the front door. I hope that was the tail end of the ceremony … I’m sure they must have done something a bit more exciting a few minutes before I got here. I read that the original fourteenth century palace eventually had to be demolished and this one was built in the late 1800s. It‘s the most fairytale-ish looking thing I’ve seen today, which is really saying something.

I’m suspecting the ceremony might have had something to do with the Captains Regent who are the Republic’s two heads of state. Well it could have been that. Or it could have just been something that they do every day to amuse the tourists. The Republic is actually governed by a democratically elected Grand and General Council, and it doesn’t sound like the heads of state wield any actual power. This is probably just as well - they’re supposed to be equal, so I’m not quite sure what would happen if they disagreed. They’re elected every six months, yep twice a year, which apparently makes them the world’s shortest serving heads of state. It seems you can be elected more than once, but only with a gap of at least three years.

The historic centre is quite small, so why is it that I can’t seem to find the bus stop with three minutes to go before it leaves? The whole place doesn’t feel quite so fairytale-like right at the moment.

Back in Rimini, we head out for a late afternoon stroll along the beach. But first we have to get there, and that would seem to require something of the order of a half kilometre trek across the sand. There are signs all along the waterfront in front of the “bagnos“ warning that the strip between the sunlounges and the water is “not free”. It seems it’s strictly only for walking, and if you decide to stop, or heaven forbid put down any “equipment”, well they’ll lock you up and throw away the key. I wonder if a towel is classified as ”equipment”? And for that matter are the country’s prisons filled with evil youngsters who had the temerity to kneel down for a few minutes to build a sand castle? I know we come from Oz where there’s no such thing as “concessions” over beaches, but I just can’t come to terms with the concept of not being able to do whatever you like on a beach. We do eventually come across a small section of “free beach”, but that seems to be very much the exception. As far as we can tell something like 14.9 of the 15 kms of beach here in Rimini is anything but free, and that just feels wrong. That’s probably enough ranting for today.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

San Marino
When we were in Bologna we were remiss not going to San Marino. Hopefully, next time.

[DaveandIssy]

San Marino
Thanks for reading. I can absolutely recommend San Marino. It’s been one of the highlights of the entire trip thus far.

[RENanDREW]

Free beaches for everyone!
We have a very similar view about beaches. We tend to get annoyed when even though the beach is still public property, the public access to said beach is controlled by private businesses. Argh! Some local planning laws (and their administrators) need a good talking to :)