San Marino: The Ancient Republic Quiz

Answer: Croatia

Why Marinus left Rab for Rimini is not known for certain. It has been suggested that he was fleeing religious persecution but there is no evidence to confirm this hypothesis. What seems certain is that he decided to settle in the area that now constitutes part of San Marino due to the freedom he found there to practise his religion.

At the time of his arrival, Christians in the Roman Empire were suffering due to the Great Persecution, led by the emperor Diocletian, that demanded that Christians abandon their religion and worship the Roman gods.

Answer: The Most Serene Republic of San Marino

The serenity of San Marino has only been interrupted briefly over the course of its long history. One such instance came at the start of the 16th century when Valentino Borgia tried to establish his own kingdom and set up a new capital at Serravalle. Borgia was evicted from the republic after just six months when pressure was put upon him by Pope Julius II.

The title of "Most Serene" is traditionally used to indicate that the nation is a sovereign state.

Answer: Monte Titano

Monte Titano is a triple-peaked mountain, each peak topped with a castle, collectively known as The Three Towers of San Marino. St. Marinus supposedly established a church on the mountain and set up a small village there. The city of San Marino itself lies alongside the mountain to the west.

The gift of the towns increased the territory of San Marino to a vast 24 square miles. When Napoleon agreed to allow the republic to remain independent, during his campaign in Northern Italy in 1797, he also offered new land to the country, including a corridor that would have provided access to the sea. However, the Sammarinese government rejected the proposal as they feared that it would ultimately lead to San Marino being engulfed by the rapidly expanding French Empire.

Answer: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Garibaldi was first refused passage through San Marino as he attempted to reach the republic of Venice in 1849. Venice was the one republic in 1848-49 with the ability to withstand the pressure that was being applied by the Austrian armies occupying the Italian states. However, not far past San Marino, Garibaldi became surrounded and retreat back to the republic was forced upon him. He returned to San Marino with 1,500 troops and entered the republic without permission, in order to speak directly to the Regent. He asked for asylum and, as the Regent was sympathetic to the liberation cause, this was granted.

The Austrians invaded San Marino searching for Garibaldi but did not find him. They planned a later invasion and conquest of the country but the intervention of Emperor Napoleon III of France meant that this plan was abandoned.

When the kingdom of Italy was declared in 1861, Garibaldi was made an honorary citizen of San Marino. A year later the two countries signed a treaty recognising the boundaries and sovereignty of each nation.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln's efforts to bring an end to slavery in the United States of America led to the attempted secession of the southern states and a civil war to protect the Union. It also, ultimately, led to his own premature death at the hands of John Wilkes Booth. The government of San Marino, which had considerable liberal leanings, was impressed with the strong stand that Lincoln was prepared to take in the face of considerable opposition. Mirroring their own battles with Austria and the Papal states, Lincoln's struggle was seen as being comparable to that of the average Sammarinese and he was accorded citizenship as a consequence.

Jean Boucaux was a freed slave from the French territory of what is now Haiti, who successfully sued his master for false imprisonment and won back pay for his time in bondage. William Wilberforce was a leading light in the abolition movement in the United Kingdom, who sadly died before seeing the full fruits of his campaign. Simon Bolivar was a revolutionary leader who won independence from Spain for a number of Central and South American nations.

Answer: 10 Sammarinese operated a Red Cross field hospital on the Italian front

Though 10 Sammarinese did volunteer for the Italian army, it was the presence of the field hospital that got Austrian backs up. San Marino had adopted a stance of neutrality throughout the war but this was viewed with suspicion by both sides. The Italians tried to force the republic's hand by cutting lines of communication and supply but San Marino's government stood firm.

The breaking off of diplomatic relations for such a trivial reason therefore, came as something of a blow.

Answer: Gothic Line

For such a small nation, the only viable options available in the face of powerful belligerent nations are those of surrender or diplomacy. The former was unthinkable in order to maintain the long tradition of independence, so the latter was pursued with vigour.

The success of their approach was that the republic remained free from attack for nearly five years. The peace was broken in June 1944 when the British Air Force bombed the republic, killing 60 citizens and displacing many more as refugees.

Despite attempts to restore peace, the British and American troops re-entered the republic three months later in order to engage the German troops defending the Gothic Line, which was situated just to the north of the republic at that time.

Answer: It had the world's first democratically elected Communist government

As the continent attempted to recover from the ravages of Nazism and Fascism and the damage done by six years of war, much of Europe's population voted in left-leaning governments. The Sammarinese went a step farther than most. Whilst Communism soon spread across much of Europe, only in San Marino was a Communist government chosen by the people rather than imposed upon them.

The Communists remained in power for ten years. It was another three years before a coalition of Christian and Social Democrats introduced a law that gave the vote to the women of the republic.

Answer: Stamps

San Marino began to issue its own stamps in 1877, having previously agreed to use Italian stamps for all mail. The first designs were of The Three Towers of San Marino and it was the attractiveness of the designs that made the stamps popular with collectors around the world. Because most of the stamps that are sold to collectors are never used, and therefore have no associated service costs, they have proved to be very profitable to the Sammarinese people.

Answer: They scored the fastest goal in international football history

To be fair, given the state of the England football team at the time, it was perhaps not that much of a surprise. Just 8.3 seconds into the World Cup qualifying match held in Bologna in Italy, an errant back pass by experienced English defender, Stuart Pearce, was seized upon by striker, Davide Gualtieri, and deposited into the back of the England net. San Marino, for a brief period, could dream of their first ever footballing victory; and against one of the giants of the game no less. Sadly, this dream lasted barely 30 minutes. By this time England had restored their dignity and scored the first two of the seven goals that would eventually see them win the match. The result was ultimately disappointing for both sides. San Marino finished last in the qualifying group and England also failed to win qualification for the World Cup in the USA.

11 years later, San Marino finally recorded their first international win, a 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein in a friendly match.