SAN MARINO.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16653, 19 November 1925, Page 3

SAN MARINO.

A LILLIPUTAN REPUBLIC. ■ OLDEST INDEPENDENT STATE. The oldest independent State in Europe, and proud of its title! Perched high up in the mountains of the march of Ancona. in North-East Italy, ringed round with Italian territory from all except the right of the sea. is the tiny republic of San Marino. independent from the Middle Ages. with a population of 11,000 souls and an area of thirty-three square miles. Its fate as an independent country hung in -the balance during the invasion of Napoleon, and it was due to the reasoning of the Stale's spokesman that Napoleon spared it. This man consequently has, in the Republic, as great a claim to reverence as Saint Marinus himself. Admirers of republics in theory do a great deal for San Marino, the sole country where the torch of freedom has flamed unquenched since the Middle Ages. In the United States, France, etc., the flame of liberty scarcely precedes the advent of gas—coal gas. An enthusiastic republican, a sculptor named Ottilia Heyroth-Wagener, presented in 1876 to San Marino a statue of Liberty, whose 1 cad shows to distinct advantage on postage stamps. As a reward for this homage to republican principles, the lady was created Duchess of Acquiviva, one of the State's half-dozen hamlets! The capital, San Marino, clusters round the foot, of the Rocca Mountain, 2.438 ft above sea level, in the angle of two precipices. There are three peaks in the republic, each crowned with a strong tower and , an iron feather These three towers and three feathers arc reproduced in the arms of the republic. , One Huge Family. Though • imposing from without. with its cluster of Mie most romantic looking castles out of Italy, the capita! is prosaic enough from within and the castle is merely a scantily filled town gaol. There are, of necessity, few prisoners, as the inhabitants of San Marino comprise one huge inter-mar-ried family, and a man can't arrest, his own people. Indeed, the twenty-three carbinicri who compose the business proportion of the 950 men and thirtyeight officers, have to 1 e imported Italians, in order to avoid favouritism. San Marino itself is a clean, selfrespecting little-town, with no other inhabitants above the rank of petty shopkeepers. But the Government must not be omitted. This most efficient little body consists of a .ureal council of sixty members, headed by (lie two Captains-General of the. Republic and the Secretary of Slate for Foreign Affairs. who may hold the peace of Europe in his hands. As the Captains-General are elected every half-year, most eminent citizens enjoy the honour tolerably early in life.' The buildings are miniatures of the thirteen century communal palaces of Italy. The Palazzo Public, or Town Hall, is a structure .of dignity and beauty, and cost only £GOQO. It is easy to believe thai the public affairs of the Slat: are run economically. The fine building above, however, is one, of the republic's chief assets. Charming Old Things. San Marino has a picture gallery which is open only when it pleases the curator, and be is a man swayed no! tven by (he wishes of a Captain-Gen-eral. The real museum in San Marino, however, is the pnsl office, where the obliging postmaster readily displays the stamps r,f the Republic ranging from about ten lire to a single ccntesimo. All tourists are bound to buy stamps, and a complete set, too, j for their friends, as the labels arc re- ! garded as curios in the outside world. The mint is not so considerate to i tourists, and San Marino pennies are | rare. There are no curio shops in San j Marino. The people have, however, many charming old things to sell, and arc in no way behind the ordinary curio dealer in quoting and getting prices. In fact, the natives of the republic are suspected by some to be a remarkably fine branch of the ten lost tribes. There ore two types of carriage in the republic—the vettura, a palatial conveyance, like a private apartment, and the express, a little, hard-seated cramped country 'bus, which is a danger to life and limb. The vulg-ar express, however, gets you there, and the vettura—sometimes. With the hotel and the gorgeous scenery, the attractions of San Marino are exhausted. The first is ah inn on quite modern lines (Irish fashion) and the second a lingering, beautiful memory of mountain and sea, torrent, and castle, flamins- sunset and undreamed of little nooks.