A City On a Hill in San Marino

The capital city of San Marino, named San Marino, sits atop Mount Titano.  Sorry the photo isn't better quality but it was the best I could do through the bus window across the aisle!

The third smallest country in Europe, after Vatican City and Monaco, San Marino encompasses 23.5 square miles.  It's just the fifth smallest country in the world.

I was actually surprised at how far up the hill the large buses could come.  We only had to walk a couple of flights of stairs to get to the outer walls of this ancient fortress city of the republic that began in 301.

Having been created that early it is the world's oldest republic.

The church pictured here is the Chiesa San Francisco.  Interior photos below.  You can see what a crowd we had for our tour, and this is just half of it, so despite having radio earbuds synced to the guide's mic it was still difficult to hear her, or make sense of what she was talking about because she would get ahead as I dawdled taking photos so I didn't have a frame of reference for what she was talking about.  Hence there will be lots of photos here and maybe not as much info.  

The Chiesa San Franciso is not large and the interior is pretty simple, 

The original church was built in 1361 and has been modified several times over the centuries.  It did have a very nice altar.

The narrow streets are full of shops, lots of leather goods, clothing, souvenirs, and surprisingly, weapons.  I don't know of a place I've been where there were more guns and knives in shop windows!

The three towers are the symbol of San Marino.  These 11th century fortress-like castle towers all sit atop the hills of San Marino and have served different purposes over time.

I was excited to see a duck store on one of the first streets we walked down.  I knew I'd be able to find an excellent souvenir for Lydia here, my granddaughter who loves rubber ducks!

The country/city are named for the man pictured in this carving.  He is Marinus, and the story goes that this Croatian stonemason from crossed the Adriatic Sea to flee religious persecution from Emperor Diocletian (who we'll learn more about in a couple of days!).  Stories vary as to how he ended up on the mountain with a city named after him but he was later canonized by the Catholic church and is considered the patron saint of the country.

Arches abounded throughout the city.

Sammarinese, people who live in San Marino, are proud of having kept themselves free from the Italian state for centuries.  Here again you see the towers pictured.

The fortress walls rise high!

Below them on one side is a lovely garden area with multiple sculptures.

I liked this one with the ballerina,

These two were kind of weird and wonderful

Lots of pretty blooms around the town in San Marino.  I decided a collage would be better for most of them.

Once we got atop the walls the panoramic view ranged far and wide.

It was just too bad there was so much haze so that we couldn't see out to the sea better.  The Adriatic Sea is there in the distance where the dark line ends.

Looking through holes that defenders might have looked out.

The Public Palace, pictured here, is where government administrative activities take place.  San Marino is ruled by 60 ministers who elect two captains from their number, every six months.  Ministers are elected for five years. 

The captains are the only ones allowed to park this close to the building.  They are essentially in charge of the group and make executive decisions with the body of ministers.

There are nine cities, or castels (they don't actually have castles), that make up the country of San Marino.  Each has their own "logo" for lack of a better word.  The economics of the country runs on tourism, as well as banking and finance.

Here you see San Marino's Statue of Liberty, created in 1876.

Three of San Marino's patron saints, Leah, Marinus and Agatha, are pictured above the clock at the public palace.

The largest church atop the mountain is the 

San Marino Basilica.

It is the main church in San Marino and this version of it was completed in 1836 but other versions existed as early as the 4th century.

There is a beautiful statue of Christ tucked away

behind patron Saint Marinus, who stands central at the altar.  I'm not sure if that placement makes him an intercessory with Christ or more important than Him.  I have to hope it's the former.

The throne here at the front of the church isn't for the priest or even a cardinal.  It is reserved twice a year, on April 1 and October 1, for the new captains who are elected on those dates.  After the election a special mass is held in the basilica and the new captains are seated here to participate in it.

Some pretty floor mosaics inside the bascilica

A nice painting of Saint Agatha can be found inside,

as well as this space devoted to Mary.

Next thing to do was to climb up to Tower One.

Flowers growing in the walls

and along the walls.  They were a lovely splash of color.

A view from higher up.

To get to the top of the tower we had to climb these steep narrow stairs and some iron rungs at the top.  Our friend Mary is here making her climb.

Now we really were at the top,

with the Emilia-Romanga countryside laid out below us.

It's no wonder this part of Italy

is a major breadbasket.

From Tower One you could get a great view of Tower Two and then Tower Three in the distance.  We could have walked over and climbed Tower Two but Karl had had enough stairs and was ready for some lunch so we just stuck with #1.

More fields, and on the right you can see the San Marino town that we had to drive through to begin our ascent of the mountain.  Just a note, population of San Marino is about 33,000.

Here's from the top of the stair/ladder looking down.  Slow and steady was the way to navigate it!

Yes, we made it safely back down the tower.

then we went back up a ways and walked along this catwalk on the top of the outer wall, just like Laura and Bob in this photo.

One more tower view.

Looking here out along the catwalk.

And then back again towards towers two and three.

After all the climbing in the heat we were ready to have some lunch.

A nice outdoor table in the shade sounded like a good idea.

Salads and pizza here made for a lovely lunch!

After doing some shopping we made our way back towards the bus but I had to stop and just take a photo of the Museum of Torture.  We passed on going inside.

We did not however, pass on gelato, in fact I probably went a little overboard with my gelato consumption today.  But how long am I going to be able to eat this incredibly delicious stuff??!!  At lunch I had a bit of chocolate, some hazelnut, and then strawberry, all excellent but hazelnut was probably my favorite.  It tasted like Torten ice cream, Nolan would have loved it!  Just before we left we stopped at a gelato shop and I had a scoop of mixed berry and one of Nutella.  In my defense, if I need one, it was a small cup!  The latter flavor won but just by a tiny bit.  Karl had the berry one plus some mango and coffee flavors.  Then it was back on the bus for our ride back to Porto Corsini.  It was a good day, how could it not be with all that gelato!