Marino

“ But it is San Marino's incomparable views, over the wide valley of the Marecchia to the Appennines on the one hand, and over the plain of Rimini to the Adriatic and the hills of Dalmatia on the other, which make the long climb worth while.
Even the Philosopher, who had rheumatism added to his other sorrows, could not help responding to the joy of waking, and finding himself high up in the clear blue sky overlooking a world washed clean by the rainstorms of the night before. ”

“ The dominant impression is one of melancholy. We forget how Romans, countermarching Carthaginians, trod the land beneath us. The marvel of San Marino, retaining independence through the drums and tramplings of the last seven centuries, is swallowed in a deeper sense of wonder. ”

“ Before a single word had been said as to the purpose of this unexpected visit, Marino begged that I would allow him the favour of a private conversation, and then entrusted me with the secret, that he had come thither on account of the beautiful Libussa. If he were so fortunate as to obtain her affections, he would immediately request her hand in marriage from the Count. ‘Good Heaven,’ said I, ‘have you then had the misfortune to lose your bride whom I saw at Venice—the Countess Apollonia?’—‘Of this I shall speak at another time,’ was his answer. ”

“ A small district in the Marches, joined to the coast by a single road, has maintained its independence through ages. Monte Titano, which rises in one of the most beautiful parts of the Apennines, and the base of which has been used as a quarry since time immemorial, bears upon its summit the old and famous city of San Marino. From its turreted walls the citizens can see the sun rise above the Illyrian Alps. San Marino, with some neighbouring hamlets, constitutes a “most illustrious” republic, and is now the only independent municipality of Italy. ”

“ The town is small and dirty, and the Leon Bianco is a wretched inn.
12th. Leaving Rimini we drove along the [Pg 181] coast of the Adriatic, close to the sea shore. We saw the distant Appenines on our right, as yet only low hills covered with vineyards and towns, one of which, San Marino, situated on the top of a hill, is a small independent republic of about five thousand souls. ”

“ Not only Mediterranean seaports, but the lakes of North Italy and central Europe, and the Hanseatic ports, are enumerated as nurseries of crusading mariners and marine skill. Finally, after the conquest of Egypt, Marino designs the establishment of a Christian fleet in the Indian Ocean to dominate and subjugate its coasts and islands. He also gives a sketch of the trade-routes crossing Persia and Egypt, as well as of the course of Indian trade from Coromandel and Gujarat to Ormuz and the Persian Gulf, and to Aden and the Nile. ”

“ Only poverty of matter and insincerity of fancy damn in Marino those literary affectations which he held in common with a host of writers—with Gorgias, Aeschylus, Chaeremon, Philostratus, among Greeks; with Petrarch, Boccaccio, Bembo, Aretino, Tasso, Guarini, among Italians; with Calderon and Cervantes, not to mention Gongora, among Spaniards; with the foremost French and English writers of the Renaissance; with all verbal artists in any age, who have sought unduly to refine upon their material of {285} language. In a word, Marino is not condemned by his so-called Marinism. ”

“ And beyond it rose the crested waves of the Appennines with the torn garments of [240] the storm shredded upon their cruel rocks. Here and there a stray beam slanting athwart their slopes illumined the towers of some little far-off town. For a few minutes the valleys were bathed in golden light, then the sun went down, and the world grew indigo with night and storms.
San Marino itself has not much to offer to the stranger within its gates. Its houses are commonplace: its cathedral and its Gothic Palazzo del Governo are modern, and its palaces contain few traces of antiquity. ”

“ That success caused the Marquis to set great store by San Marino, and, perceiving that he should have much need of his judgment and ability in the field, during the war with Siena that is to say, he so laboured with the Duke, that his Excellency at length despatched San Marino to the General, according to his desire, and with a commission as captain of a large company of infantry; wherefore the master served ever after as a valiant soldier, no less than as an ingenious architect and engineer. ”

“ Even the ball in the evening did not seem to rouse their spirits; only Marino danced incessantly, and he alone seemed extravagant in his mirth. ‘By good luck,’ said he, as he passed me during a quadrille, and laughed aloud; ‘by good luck, no ghost has come to interrupt our festival, as in your Venetian story!’—‘Nay, nay,’ said I, ‘don’t rejoice too soon my Lord Duke; misfortune comes on with cautious, noiseless steps. Often we know nothing of our danger, till it is already close upon us.’ Contrary to my expectations, he did not venture to answer one word ”

“ Trent, Aquileia, Trieste, Istria, are still parts, not of an Italian kingdom, not of a German kingdom, confederation, or empire, but of an Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Otherwise the Italian kingdom has formed itself, and it has taken its place among the great powers of Europe. Yet the whole peninsula does not form part of the Italian kingdom. ♦San Marino remains free.♦ Surrounded on every side by that kingdom, the commonwealth of San Marino, like Rhodes or Byzantium under the early Cæsars, still keeps its ancient freedom. ”

“ Every male in San Marino is, it is true, a soldier, but soldiering involves no fighting or absence from home. Although all are liable to be called upon to serve in case of necessity, only those under a certain age are on ordinary occasions called out. The strength of this regular army of the republic is eight hundred men. ”

“ This curious little state is in its own way perfectly unique, and its existence is the more singular from its being situated in Italy, though for centuries in the Middle Ages that country was the scene of an uninterrupted succession of wars. The hand of every country was against its neighbours. Towns changed owners every few years; states were swallowed up, conquered, reconquered, but San Marino has remained. ”

“ Duca di Firenze, Poi Granduca di Toscana
1246 Testone COS.MEDICES FLOREN.ET SENARVM; DVX II, Busto a destra, barbuto e corazzato, a testa nuda. R: SENAVETVS CIVITAS VIRGINIS.+., Mezza figura della Beata Vergine nimbata e velata, sopra le nubi, con le braccia aperte, in atto di proteggere la cittä che le sta sotto. AR 9,12 g; 30,9 mm. CNI XI/417/16; Morosini 11/337/21. Piü di bellissimo 1000,-
SAN MARINO
Repubblica di San Marino 1864-1938
Antica repubblica che, seconda la tradizione, si vuole fondata nel IV secolo da un Marino di professione tagliapietre. ”

“ The San Marinese manage, and well manage, their own local affairs, without any annoying interference from an Italian prefect. They owe no military service to Italy, and their own militia is no burden. Above all, they pay no taxes to Italy. If I were an Italian, I should like to be a San Marinese." A. B. Hart, The Ancient Commonwealth of San Marino (The Nation, February 1, 1894) . SAN MARTIN, General Jose de, The liberation of Chile and Peru. See CHILE: A. D. 1810-1818 ”

“ The republic of San Marino, next to that of Millingen in Switzerland, is the smallest republic in Europe. The limits of it extend no farther than the base of the mountain on which it is seated. Its insignificance is its security. ”

“ THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO.
(Vol. iii., pp. 321. 376.)
Though your correspondent MR. SYDNEY SMIRKE has brought to our notice the existence of the republic of San Marino, and informed us of many facts in connexion therewith, and though F. C. B. has enlightened us on several points of interest in the history of this state, still I do not find in either of these communications the following particulars of its foundation, which are in Addison's Remarks on Italy, pp. 62, 63. (ed. Talboys, 1830) , and which may interest some of your readers. ”

“ The third smallest state in Europe (after the Holy See and Monaco) also claims to be the world's oldest republic. According to tradition, it was founded by a Christian stonemason named Marino in 301 A.D. San Marino's foreign policy is aligned with that of Italy. Social and political trends in the republic also track closely with those of its larger neighbor. ”

“ The queer little Italian republic of San Marino, with its 33 square miles of territory and its population of 6000, lies up in the eastern spurs of the Apennine Mountains. It is governed by a Grand Council of 60, who are elected for life, and two Presidents, one of whom is appointed by the Council, the other elected by the people. The little republic has an army of 950 men, who are employed only as policemen. San Marino is the only country in the world that prohibits the introduction of the printing-press. ”

“ He enjoyed full leisure to complete his Adone, and when it was published in 1623, it fully satisfied the expectations of his admirers. He returned to his native city of [Pg 115] Naples, where a magnificent ovation awaited him. He did not, however, live long to enjoy his triumph, and Italy had to mourn his loss in 1625.
Marino exactly hit the taste of his contemporaries, and the praises lavished upon him are almost incredible in their exaggeration. The poet Claudio Achillini wrote to him from Bologna: "There is not a doubt in my mind that you are the greatest poet the world has ever seen." ”

“ Unlike the cities of Italy, San Marino is early to bed: at half-past eight the streets are silent and deserted. But she is an early riser. The only public conveyance to Rimini, which also purposes to serve the Ancona-Rome express, is timed to depart from the city gates at 4 a.m. The gaoler and the police are foreigners, i.e. Italians, because, as the prison-keeper remarked, 'otherwise no [241] one would ever be arrested, because the Sammarinesi would all be relations of the police.' But the army, forty strong, is recruited from the Sammarinesi themselves. ”

“ Others come to join us from the South.
(Enter San Marino, Portugal, Roumania, and Greece. Each is dressed in National costume and carries National flag.)
SAN MARINO:
As the oldest, though the smallest, Republic in the world I have come to strike a blow for Freedom. ”

“ The determining reason for the freedom of San Marino since 1300 has been the friendship of potentates, first of the neighboring Dukes of Urbino, then of the Popes, then of Napoleon, then of Italy. ... When the kingdom of Italy was formed in 1860, no one cared to erase from the map a state which even the Pope had spared, and in which Europe was interested. Hence the San Marinese retained a situation comparable with that of the native states in India. A 'consolato' of the Italian Government resides in the town; the schools are assimilated to the Italian system ”

“ Francis II, Emperor of Austria, seized Venice and Lombardy, while a Bourbon, in the person of Ferdinand I, received Naples and Sicily, a much disputed heritage. Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, received also the Duchies of Savoy and Piedmont. San Marino was a republic still, standing solitary and mournful upon the waters of the Adriatic. Italy was divided state from state, as in the medieval times, but now, alas! each state could not boast free government. ”

“ It is the smallest republic in the world (32 sq. m. in area) . According to tradition, the republic was founded by St Marinus during the persecutions under Diocletian, while his companion, St Leo, founded the village of that name 7 m. to the S.W., with La Rocca its old castle, now a prison, in which the impostor Cagliostro died in 1795. The history of S. Marino begins with the 9th century, the monastery of S. Marino having existed demonstrably since 885. In the 10th century a communal constitution was established. ”

“ MARINI (or Marino) , GIAMBATTISTA (1560–1625) , Italian poet, was born at Naples on the 18th of October 1569. After a somewhat disreputable youth, during which he became known for his Canzone de’ baci, he secured the powerful patronage of Cardinal Aldobrandini, whom he accompanied from Rome to Ravenna and Turin. An edition of his poems, La Lira, was published at Venice in 1602–1614. His ungoverned pen and disordered life compelled him to leave Turin and take refuge from 1615 to 1622 in Paris, where he was favourably recognized by Marie de’ Medici. ”

“ The sovereignty of San Marino is therefore almost as complete a puzzle as that of the mysterious Royaume d' Yvetot. ... The Malatestas, originally lords of the neighboring upland fortress of Verrucchio would willingly have made the whole ridge the backbone of their State of Rimini. But this very fact secured for the Sammarinesi the constant friendship of the lords of Urbino. ... Neither power could allow the other to appropriate so invaluable a strategic position. ... The existing constitution is a living lesson on medieval history. ”

“ The available armed forces of the republic form a total of about 1200 men, all citizens able to bear arms being technically obliged to do so from the age of 16 to 60 years. San Marino issues its own postage-stamps, and makes thereby a considerable income. It also issues its own copper coinage, which circulates in Italy also; but Italian money is current for the higher values. Most of the republic falls within the diocese of Montefeltro, a small portion within that of Rimini. ”

“ Greece and Rome were not republics in the sense of our day, and in their expanded growth did not profess to be, at any time; Switzerland and San Marino were too limited in extent to afford any valuable examples ”