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San Marino

Our car rental in Italy was just for Italy. The agreement specifies that you can't take the rental into another country. This doesn't sound like much of an issue since we were staying in central Italy, but it prevented us from visiting a spot that was merely 40 miles away from Fano: San Marino. Alizia and Roberto offered to take us touring, and when one of the options mentioned was San Marino it did not take us long to select that location. San Marino is an interesting little country that sits completely within the Le Marche region of Italy. Conveniently, they speak Italian there. The city of San Marino, which is where we went (and what we will be referring to from this point on), sits on the top of Mount Titano. As Paul said, he can just imagine trudging up this mountainside in the year 301 and thinking "My, what a lovely place to build a village. Let's start hauling up all the necessary material." Today, of course, it is much easier to get to the city. The mountain is a unique shape, with a long narrow top, a sheer cliff face on one side, and a fairly steep slope on the other. The village is on that steep slope. This picture, which we took later in the day, gives a good view of the village as it sits at multiple levels. The left of this photograph is north, and the right is south. Note along the top ridgeline of the mountain there are three towers; you will see more about them below.

A lower ridge is in front, and a high ridge in the distance. Near the top of the ridge is a village, mostly on the left, with many layers of houses.

Looking towards the sea (which is the direction that the sheer cliff wall faces), the land is fairly flat, with only some rolling hills to punctuate the view. We believe that the tower near the edge of the land at the Adriatic Sea is in the city of Rimini.

Photo taken from a high position showing an expanse of land that is relatively flat. There are some agricultural fields and many settlements. In the distance the Adriatic Sea can be hazily seen.

Looking inland, however, shows a very different terrain with hills that give way to mountains.

Part of a building is in the foreground, with a flat top that is a walking area. There are a few people on the area, and some closed vendor sheds. The land behind the building, which is much lower, has no flat areas. There are hills in the foreground and taller mountains in the background.

San Marino is named after Saint Marinus. The large Basilica di San Marino was only constructed in 1836. It is at the same site as a previous local church that needed cost prohibitive repairs.

A wide stone path leads up to a plaza. On the far side of the plaza are stairs that lead up to a large building with 6 pillars in front. There is a cross at the top of the building, and on the tops of two adjacent buildings.

Here are Roberto, Paul, and Alizia as we left the area of the Basilica.

Roberto, Paul, and Alizia are in a narrow street that leads to the Basilica. An optician shop can be seen on the left, and a plain wall is on the right.

It was rather chilly and unexpectedly very windy that day, much more so than down at sea level where we started out the day. Notice in the photograph above Roberto had a leather jacket that would easily cut the wind, but it did not have a hood. So one of our first stops was a shop to get him a hat. Shopping is a major tourist activity in San Marino, so he was easily able to find a shop with warm hats. Anne went up some steps to a higher plaza in order to take this photo. Alizia, Roberto, and Paul can be seen exiting the shop on the other side of the lower plaza.

Looking down at a piazza. Two people are walking in from the bottom of the picture, and two other people are in the distance with a dog on a leash. There are stone buildings with shop windows. Alizia, Roberto, and Paul are just outside one of the shops.

On the top of the mountain ridgeline sit San Marino's three historic defensive towers. These can clearly be seen in the first picture on this page. The first on the left, and oldest, is called Guaita ('to stand guard' in the local dialect). Originally built back in the 11th century, it reached the current form in the late 1400s. As recently as 1970, some rooms were used as a prison.

A tower can be seen at the top of a rise in the land. There is a walkway leading to it on the right. On the left is a tree, and far below is some land.

While we didn't go into the tower, we did check out the building and entrance. Here are Roberto, Anne, and Alizia. This gives you an idea how tall the wall is.

A tall stone wall is on the left, while 3 people walk up a stone walkway towards a door.

The view, to the south and west, is impressive. Although you cannot see it, the city of San Leo is over Paul's right shoulder. We will discuss more about San Leo on the next page.

Paul is standing at the corner of a low stone wall. He is wearing a jacket with the hood up. The land on the other side of the wall drops off quickly.

Looking down at the village, the view is slightly dizzying.

Looking at the tops of houses that rise up from the descending mountainside, with an undulating landscape as far as the eye can see.

In this next picture we are looking back at the 1st tower. The walls protected villagers when they were under attack.

The tower stands at the edge of a cliff face that drops directly off, while the other side slopes off.

Our path brought us through the nearer of those two walls in the above photograph. This picture shows the north side of the wall (our direction of travel was north to south). The door to continue is to the left of Anne, within the alcove.

Anne is standing in a tall alcove in a stone wall, with a brick path that leads to the alcove.

The stairs further left were likely defensive at one point, allowing access to the top of the wall. They can still be climbed to obtain a nice view of the continuing path and of the second tower. The second tower is called Cesta ('basket'). This tower was built shortly after the 1st tower. It fell into disrepair until being restored in the 1930s to act as a museum. The museum focuses on ancient weapons. Since that is not something we were particularly interested in, we skipped the museum.

Looking down at a narrow path with a few people on it, and to a rising mountain top that has a tower on it. The land slopes off sharply to both sides.

The path here is fairly narrow and provides great views. In the first of the following two pictures, it looks like Anne was attempting to say something in Italian to Roberto. The next picture shows Alizia and Roberto patiently waiting for the tourists (Paul and Anne) to catch up after taking pictures.

Anne and Roberto stand near a fence with a stone walkway going off behind them to a very tall stone wall.

Alizia and Roberto stand on the edge of a stone path, with looks to have been carved out of the surrounding stone.

Before we got to the second tower, we found a cute little spot that briefly sheltered us from the wind. It would be a nice spot to eat lunch during the summer months.

Alizia sits on a stone bench at a stone table. There are many leaves on the ground, and a tall stone cliff face on the left. Alizia is wearing a warm blue coat.

The shopping in San Marino includes all sorts of items, not just warm hats. One little shop was selling medieval and fantasy items. The staff that Anne is carefully not touching says 'Bastone di Gandolf: Tu non puoi passare' which translates to 'Gandalf's staff: You Cannot Pass'. (For those not familiar with Tolkien's work, Gandalf says that phrase to a very mean monster that was trying to follow and kill our heroes.) The other staff is supposedly in the style of the staff of Saruman. (Note that we darkened the background slightly in this picture so that Anne and the staffs are more visible.)

Anne is wearing a black jacket and jeans and has her hand near a wooden staff that is in a holder. There is a second black staff near them.

Here is Paul with a view of the 2nd tower behind him, and then Alizia, Roberto, and Anne.

Paul wearing a warm jacket with a tower and wall looming behind him.

Alizia wearing a blue jacket, Roberto wearing a black jacket and a hat, Anne wearing a black jacket. A stone wall is behind them.

And finally, we view the 3rd tower, named Montale. (That name is, perhaps, from the word 'montare' which means, among other things, to climb into.) It is a bit isolated with a walk along the ridge and a protected wooded area. Built in the 13th century, it has a great location for a lookout tower. The entrance to the tower is actually several meters above the ground, so obviously it was not open for touring. This feature is because it was used as a prison and at the time that was a common practice.

Viewed through a space between trees is a single tall tower with a steep cliff to the left of it.

A path with some leaves, greenery on the left and a stone wall on the right. Roberto is walking away from us, then further away are Alizia and Anne.

It was a bit of a joke that if there was a set of stairs or even rocks that can be walked up, Anne would go up them. This picture captures her just before she headed up those rocks in order to appreciate the view.

Anne is looking back towards the camera with a tall tower a bit further away.

Just past the tower was a lookout point with a little seat built into the wall. We of course had to take advantage of the seat.

Two low stone walls that come to a point with the view of a mountainous landscape far below us.

Anne and Alizia sit on a stone bench that is part of a low wall. The wind is blowing their hair.

We then walked back towards the main part of the city of San Marino. We were on a lower level at this point, and looked back up towards the 1st tower.

A tall rock cliff face with stone walls above it and the 1st tower seen even higher up.

The wall, as is often seen in Italy and San Marino, incorporates the mountain stone as part of the wall structure.

A civil police vehicle is seen on the lower right, then an angled rock wall with a tower at the top right.

Although we did not do a lot of shopping, Anne was tempted to go into the Sir Paul Boutique.

Paul stands in front of a store window with a sign above that says Sir Paul. Inside are men's clothing.

The Piazza della Libertà stretches before a government building and contains the appropriately named Statua della Libertà (Statue of Liberty). You can also click on this link to see a 360° view of the plaza.

A plaza with a few people, a white statue, and a stone building at the far side.

There was a chocolate festival during our visit to San Marino. We were too busy touring the city to participate, but we did see a display from a chocolate museum in nearby Cattolica (back in Italy). Anne also bought a hot chocolate and a few chocolates from one of the stands that were part of the festival.

A small display showing models of cocoa beans and some forms used in the making of chocolates.

Alizia selected a restaurant with a view for our lunch. Getting to the restaurant required going down stairs to a lower level of the city.

Looking down a long staircase with a couple of landings and tall stone building walls on each side. Anne and Alizia are side by side walking away in the distance and Roberto is behind them.

Here are Paul, Roberto, and Alizia at Ristorante Trattoria Ritrovo dei Lavoratori (Worker's Meeting Restaurant) before our meal. The wine we drank was grown and vinified in San Marino by the appropriately named Cantina San Marino. We had a table with a view.

Paul, Robert, and Alizia at a table with a gold tablecloth. Roberto is holding up a glass of wine. Through the window mountains can be seen in the distance.

With our food: ravioli (in front of Paul and, although you cannot see it, anne) or passatelli with truffle (in front of Roberto and Alizia).

Paul, Robert, and Alizia at a table with a gold tablecloth. A plate of foot is in front of each of them. Through the window mountains can be seen in the distance.

After our lunch (which was in the early afternoon per the Italian style) our hosts decided we should move on to our next destination, San Leo (which will be on the next page of this trip report). Our walk out brought us past many public statues. This one of a dancer reminded us of Degas.

A statue of a ballet dancer standing on one leg while adjusting her footwear. The statue is in front of a green bush and has a bit of lawn in front of it.

As we approached the cable car station, we walked by this large sunken area. It was once a quarry for stone used in the Piazza della Libertà. It is now called the Crossbowmen's Quarry (Cava dei Balestrieri) and is used for medieval events and, specifically, crossbow competitions. (If you want to see the event, it is held on September 3rd each year. Warning, though: viewing space is fairly limited. You can watch a promotional video of the event).

On the left of a photo the walkway continues level, but the rest of the photograph shows steps down to a long narrow sunken area that has green grass and stone walkways. At the far side is a raised platform of stone.