Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Why Does San Marino Even Exist?

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

The country of San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world. It is completely surrounded by Italy, is about 24 square miles in area, and has a population of about 33,000 people. The most interesting thing about San Marino is the fact that it exists. Why didn’t San Marino get sucked into Italy like every other city-state on the peninsula? Learn more about tiny San Marino and why it still exists in the 21st century on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The country of San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world. It's completely surrounded by Italy. It's about 24 square miles in area. And is a population of about 33,000 people. But the most interesting thing about San Marino, however, is the fact that it exists. Why didn't San Marino get sucked into Italy like every other city-state on the peninsula? Learn more about tiny San Marino and why it still exists in the 21st century on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by the Restoration Depot. Do you want more fun in your life? It can be tough finding the year. you time we all need. Here's a way to feel more energized. Join the Restoration Depot where

friends can meet for all sorts of health and wellness options online. The Restoration Depot is created for people like you. It's convenient and affordable. Just log in to any one of their online classes like yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, music, and many more. Check out all of the classes at therestoration depot.com and try your first class for only $5 by selecting first class. special at checkout. Remember, that is, the Restoration Depot.com. The official name of San Moreno is the most serene republic of San Moreno. The word serene in this context doesn't refer to calmness or stability. It's an archaic usage that refers to sovereignty. Most serene Republic was actually used by other Italian city states in the past, including Venice,

Genoa, and Luca. This interesting little factoid about the name of the country does raise an interesting question, however. Venice, Genoa, and Luca are all now part of Italy. They were all larger, richer, and more powerful than San Marino. In fact, every city-state, Dutchy, kingdom, and even the papal fiefdoms on the Italian peninsula are all now a part of Italy, except for San Marino. So what's so special about San Marino? Certainly there were many points in history where tiny San Marino could have easily been overrun by any number of states in or who came through Italy. Yet this tiny republic has managed to stay independent into the 21st century when nothing else around it has. The story of San Moreno dates way back to the Roman Empire, as does pretty much everything in Italy.

According to the legends, in the year 301, a stone mason named Moranus fled there. Morinist was a priest, and he fled to Montetiano to build a monastery and to live as a hermit. community soon developed around that monastery on the mountains. He was eventually declared a saint, and the country was named after his Italianized version of his name, San Moreno. The official date for the founding of the country is September 3rd, 301. San Marino's biggest early asset was its geography. It's basically centered on a mountain with three tall peaks. That made it easy to be defended, hard to attack, plus there wasn't a whole lot of reason to take it. There were no valuable resources or trade routes that made San Moreno an attractive target.

Even during the medieval period, when there were many smaller states filling the map of Italy, San Moreno was still really small in comparison to everything else. They just kept to themselves, stayed out of the political games of the region, and were mostly left alone. That isn't to say they never had issues, however. In 1503, Cesar Borgia occupied the country for six months. His father was Pope Alexander the 6th, and when he died, his replacement, Pope Julius II, had the troops withdrawn. In 1543, Fabiano de Montes San Salvio, a nephew of Pope Julius III, tried to invade, but he and his troops ended up getting lost in the fog. The San Maranese

attributed it as a miracle. Eventually, the states in Italy began growing in size. In 1625, the papal states eventually acquired all of the land surrounding San Marino, which began its life as an enclave. And here I'll refer you to my episode on Exclave. and enclaves. In 1631, a treaty negotiated almost 30 years earlier with Pope Clement the 8th came into effect, which recognized San Marino and extended papal state protection to the country. In 1739, the country was occupied by a force from the papal states under Cardinal Giulio Aberoni, but the occupation was ended just five months later under the direct orders of Pope Clement the 12th. It was at the end of the 18th century, in the beginning of the 19th century,

modern Italy, and all of Europe, for that matter, began to take shape. Probably the biggest event during this period was the invasion of Italy by Napoleon. Fun fact, most people aren't aware that Napoleon wasn't born French. Corsica at the time of his birth was Italian, and he didn't even learn to speak French until he was 13 years old. When Napoleon invaded Italy, he totally rewrote the map. San Marino wouldn't have even been a speed bump to his army if he wanted to take the country. things came to a head on February 5, 1797, when the regents of San Moreno received a letter from French General Alexandra Berthier. Supposedly, the bishop of nearby Rimini was being sought by the French, and he had fled to San Marano.

The response of San Marino here had to be very delicate. If they didn't hand the bishop over, the French would just waltz in and occupy the country, and that could be the end of San Marino. Likewise, they didn't want to antagonize the Pope and the papal states by handing over the bishop. What the regent at the time, Antonio Anoffrey did, was give Napoleon all of his support, but let the bishop flee across the border into the papal states. Napoleon really liked Anoffrey and promised to leave San Marino independent. Not only did he do that, but he also offered them more territory if they would like it, but Anoffrey declined. He is reported to have said, quote,

Wars end, but neighbors remain. He knew that if he took the territory of their neighbors now, they would have to just confront them later on. Basically, San Moreno escaped the wrath of Napoleon just because he personally liked the leader of the country. Napoleon also made the citizens of San Marino exempt from all taxes and gave them a huge supply of wheat. He was just a big San Moreno fanboy. After the fall of Napoleon at the 1814 Congress of Vienna, Anoffrey managed to establish good relations with all of the major players, and most importantly, Pope Leo the 12th, who, quote, assured them of his friendship and renewed, the ancient conventions with them."

San Moreno managed to thread the eye of the needle during the Napoleonic era by being friends with everyone and a threat to no one. The next big event which threatened the sovereignty of the country was Italian unification. This was the movement that gobbled up all of the various political units on the Italian peninsula and created the modern country of Italy that we know today. The Austrian Empire and the Papal States were two of the big players at the time, and Tiny San Moreno again had to balance themselves between them. The Italian Unification Movement was led by Giuseppe Garibaldi.

In 1849, his troops were surrounded by Austrians, and he sought refuge in San Moreno, which was granted. They had provided support for other Italian fighters before. Offering support and aid to Garibaldi won themselves no favors from the Austrians or the papal states. The Austrians eventually entered the country and went house-to-house looking for Garibaldi's men, but they had snuck away and headed to Venice. When Italy was eventually unified under the new kingdom of Italy, Garibaldi didn't forget what San Marino had done for him.

He honored their request to remain independent and was given honorary citizenship, which he treasured. He said of his citizenship, quote, I thank you for the present which will always remind me of the generous hospitality of San Marino in a moment of extreme danger for me and for Italy, unquote. This was formalized in a treaty with the case. Kingdom of Italy in 1862 where both countries formally recognized each other. In 1861, San Moreno, oddly enough, was recognized by the United States and by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

In the 20th century, threats to their independence didn't end. In World War I, Italy entered the side of the Allies. San Moreno, as usual, stayed neutral, which angered the Italians. They thought they may be harboring Austrian spies. They got out of this jam by remaining neutral, but having 10 individual citizens of the country volunteering for the Italian army to serve in medical units. The fascist wave that swept Italy in the 1920s didn't escape San Moreno. Soon after the fascist party in Italy came to power, so too did the Samaranese fascist party come to power in San Marino. Here again, because they had a government sympathetic to Mussolini, they were probably saved. Not surprisingly, the San Maranese fascist party lasted as long as the Italian fascist party did, down to a few,

days. When the Germans occupied the northern half of Italy near the end of the war, they gave notice to San Marino that they would try to avoid an occupation, but if the military objectives demanded it, they would do so. In 1944, during the Battle of Rimini, over 100,000 refugees fled to San Moreno, which overwhelmed the small country, which only had 15,000 citizens at the time. The Allies occupied the country briefly after the battle, but then left after two months, and that was the last time foreign troops have ever occupied. occupied the country. After World War II, San Marino went in a totally different direction from their previous government and became the first and only country ever to elect a communist

government. This, after having just elected a fascist government. Pick a lane, San Marino. Today, San Marino is an independent country with diplomatic relations with most of the world. They're a member of the United Nations, but they're not a member of the European Union, nor are they members of the Schengen zone, which allows for passportless travel between European countries, but they do have open borders with Italy. San Marino isn't technically in the Eurozone, but they do use the Euro as its currency, and they have an agreement with the European Central Bank so they can issue a small amount of Euro coins. The easiest way to visit San Marino is to just take the train to Rimini and then take a bus about 20 minutes into San Marino. You can easily explore the entire country on foot in about

today. So the answer to the initial question, why does San Moreno even exist, can be chalked up to luck and diplomacy. They managed to do the right things at the right time and have the right people at the right time as well. Popes humored them, Napoleon liked them, Garibaldi thanked them, and Mussolini sympathized with them. All of these things have allowed this 1,700-year-old tiny Republic to survive into the 21st century. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. Today's five-star review comes from listener David Torrens over at Podcast Republic. They write,

It's the only daily podcast where I always download and listen every evening without checking the day's subject. I know from weeks of experience that I will enjoy and be fascinated by the content. Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, David. However, you might want to watch the show titles. someday I may just upload 10 minutes of fingernails on a blackboard just to keep you on your toes. Remember, if you have a five-star review, you too can have your review read on the show.