The Beautiful Republic of San Marino

...or The Enchanted Republic of San Marino, or the plain old Republic of San Marino (I prefer Enchanted). Whatever you call it, The Pinkoskis Great Big European Adventure ventured there recently. Those of you who know me may recall me talking about how it was a dream of mine to visit all six of the European microstates. Not really, but can you name them (the answer is at the bottom)? At about 24 square miles in size, San Marino is the smallest independent state in the world.

It's also the oldest, tracing it's origin back to 301 when a Christian stone-cutter named Marino (later, Saint Marinus) moved from nearby Rimini to Mount Titano to dodge persecution. Over time, others joined him, Marino was appointed Deacon, and he later received the Mount as a present from a rich Roman woman. The Mount became sort of a sanctuary for local Christians to practice their faith. Marino's last words were reported to be, “I leave you free from any other man.” And the independent Republic of San Marino was born.

This independence, not to mention it's fortified walls and relatively isolated location, served San Marino well over the years. While the Italians were subject to all sorts of “cruel tyranny” exercised by powerful ruling families (San Marino is completely surrounded by Italy), the Sammarinese lived in complete freedom. In the late 1700s, Napoleon came calling and offered San Marino more land if it would support him. They respectfully declined, but were spared the fate of most of Europe. San Marino also remained neutral during the two World Wars, although there was reportedly a Battle of San Marino, where the Allied and Axis armies battled in 1944.

But I digress, this story is about the Pinkoskis, not the Sammarinese. The Pinkoski gang boarded the bus on time and in good spirits, and began an extremely foggy trek southeast. First stop, as is almost always the case with these Army-sponsored trips, is the AutoGrill. AutoGrill is the name of the European truck stops located along the AutoStrada (the Italian Autobahn). It's got everything your finer American truck stop might have, but the meat and cheese cooler is not to be missed.
We fueled up on coffee, juice, candy bars and croissants and continued the journey. Along the way, our trip leader, Elena, entertained us with facts about the Republic, including how a less than honorable Italian girl might marry an old resident to try to gain citizenship.

San Marino is impressive...even from many miles away. You start to see Mount Titano from way off in the distance. Then you can begin to make out the three towers located on the three highest crests. And when you think you're there, you begin navigating an endless number of switchbacks as the road winds back and forth toward the top of the mountain and the town of San Marino (yes, town of San Marino located within the Republic of San Marino).

When the bus stops, you start walking...and climbing. One enters the old city through the Porta San Francesco. Originally a lookout post built in 1361, the gate was altered and restored several times, and fitted with an iron door. Once inside, the narrow cobblestone streets wind back and forth up the side of the mountain, opening into several piazzas. We passed the Cava dei Balestrieri (Crossbowman's Quarry), which includes a mini-amphitheater where medieval-themed events are held. It also includes a number of interesting works of art. There are also numerous breathtaking views of the (newer part of the) city below and thesurrounding country-side. We spent some time at the Monument to Bartolomeo Borghesi, famous archeologist and numismatist.

As we continued upward, we came to the Piazza della Liberta (Liberty Square). This Piazza is home to the Government House, San Marino's own Statue of Liberty and the Palazzetto delle Poste (the old post office). Once again, the view of the surrounding country was amazing. A cobblestone street leads you up to the Piazza Domus Plebis and the Basilica dei Santo. The Saint's Basilica is actually built on the site of the Republic's original Christian church.

And just when you think you've climbed enough, you realize that you haven't seen any of the three towers yet. So up the hill you go. The first tower is La Rocca O Guaita. Construction of Guaita began in the 10^th century and structurally it is the most impressive of the three. It was used as a prison up until the 1960s but is now a museum. A narrow, walled path called Passo delle Streghe (Witches Pass) winds across the the ridge between the first and second towers.

The second tower is La Cesta O Fratta. Built on the highest point of Mount Titano, Cesta was constructed around the 13^th century. Cesta houses the Museum of Ancient Arms, which includes suits of armor, knives, swords, crossbows (the Sammarinese are big on crossbows) and some oldey-timey guns. Actually, there are some impressive 1800s-vintage rifles and revolvers in the exhibit. The last tower is Montale. I was surprised to hear that no one knows when it was constructed (seems like somebody always knows, or is willing to guess on this sort of thing). Speculation is that the people started to build another large fortress to protect the southeast flank of the ridge, but times were good so they decided to do something else and it was never finished. It is privately owned and not open to the public so it doesn't get a lot of press. For me, the most impressive thing is that it's off by itself and you literally have to walk through the woods to get close to it.

The towers are impressive sites and our Sammarinese guide proudly noted that they were never taken by force. In fact, while they were never seriously damaged in battle, they ironically were nearly wiped out by neglect. It's reported that their walls were plundered to take stones to pave streets and build houses. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a wave of national pride took hold and the towers were restored to their former glory.

When we weren't hiking up the streets, we were knocking around the shops...everything from fine jewelry (the girls got necklaces) and leather (Traycie went purse shopping), to liquor (Dad got Limoncello and Absinthe), to knives and guns (Ronnie got a cool pocket knife), to bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets. We had a nice lunch of pizza, gnocchi, a great big steak for Ronnie and a heapin' cup of wine for Dad. Sammie chose a cat nap instead. San Marino is famous for its stamps and coins, so I got a Euro proof set and we got a handful of post cards with stamps included. We spent some time at an outdoor cafe writing postcards, eating patate fritte and drinking coffee and hot chocolate.

San Marino includes a number of eclectic museums, notably, the Museum of Torture (children not included), the Vampire Museum, the Curio Museum and the Modern Arms Museum. And of course, the State Museum has all the art and culture you would expect from an old European City. It's not a very big place, but we barely had time to scratch the surface as far as things to do. Five out of five Pinkoskis agree, San Marino is a beautiful awesome place and we will definitely be returning.

So how many could you think of? - The six European microstates, include San Marino, Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, and Malta.

As usual, here is the slide show.....

"The intellectual man requires a fine bait; the sots are easily amused." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm still reading "Florence, just add water", the children's book about Florence. I have a few excuses - It's the only one we have in the house, our home wireless crashes frequently, etc. etc. The simple truth is that there are a lot of interesting facts in this book. I was reading about Michelangelo and "David". This is a listing of interesting facts I've dug up about the work.

1) The marble block he was born from was flawed because it was poorly hewn. Many local artists had refused to work the block because of the flaw.
2) When Michelangelo agreed to take on the work, he build a solid fence around the work area so no one could see the work in progress.
3) The head and the hands are out of proportion to the rest to draw your attention to the "action" areas of the statue.
4) The sculpture captures David moments before he is engaging in battle with Goliath. This is unlike Donatello's earlier work which show David after it's all over.
5) David was originally supposed to be placed up high on one of the spots on the Duomo. After it was revealed, it was decided it was too beautiful to be placed where no one could appreciate it. A panel decided it should be placed at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. DaVinci, a contemporary of Michelangelo's but by no means a friend, was on the panel and recommended that be placed in the Loggia di Lanzi - a much less prominent placing.
6) The look of defiance and challenge on his face - Florentines placed him facing Rome. The 500 year old version of "Oh yeah! Just try and make me."
7) The statue has been damaged several times over the years. When it was being moved to it's display spot at the Palazzo Vecchio, two local "critics" threw rocks at it. In 1527, the left arm was broken by a wooden bench thrown out of a window of the Palazzo during a heated argument, In 1544, a shoulder fell off and hit a bystander. When it was moved to its current location in the 1870's, the museum left it wrapped up for too long and mold grew on the marble. In 1992, a visitor smashed one of David's big toes with a hammer.
8) It took Michelangelo three years to create this masterpiece.


Did you know that Spongebob is educational ?

Have you ever seen the Spongebob episode where Squidward is teaching art class at community college and Spongebob is his only student. It's called "Artist Unknown". I looked for it on Youtube with no luck so if anyone can find a link to the episode, please post it. With one tap on a block of marble, Spongebob creates "David" (with perfect censorship). Squidward says it's not finished and places a squidward-style nose on "David".

Pop culture reference! While working on "David", Piero Soderini is credited with commenting that the nose was too thick. Michelangelo climbed the scaffolding and pretended to alter the nose. He even had the foresight to drop marble dust while pretending to work. Michelangelo then asked Soderini’s for his opinion of the ‘new’ nose. ‘Ah, that’s much better,’ said Soderini, ‘Now you’ve really brought it to life.’

Later in the same Spongebob episode, the art collector visits the classroom and declares "perfect censorship!" for David's shell undies. Not only is the shell appropriate for a children's cartoon, it's also a reference to Queen Victoria. A copy of Michelangelo’s "David" was presented to Queen Victoria by the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1857 and was soon afterwords donated to the South Kensington Museum. Urban legend says that Queen Victoria was so shocked by David's nudity that the staff had a proportionally accurate fig leaf commissioned. When female students or dignitaries were visiting the museum, the leaf was hung on the figure using two strategically placed hooks. The fig leaf was most likely made by the Anglo-Italian firm D. Brucciani & Co., based in London. Currently, the fig leaf is housed in its own case on the back of the plinth of the figure.

Who knew?