San Marino
San Marino, 301 CE to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. San Marino claims to have been founded in AD 301 and to be the oldest extant sovereign state, and the oldest constitutional republic. In 1503, Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, occupied the Republic for six months until his father's successor, Pope Julius II, intervened and restored the country's independence. During the later phase of the Italian unification process in the 19th century, San Marino served as a refuge for many people persecuted because of their support for unification, including Giuseppe Garibaldi and his wife Anita.
Seat of power: San Marino
Rulers
Domenico Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1861–1862
He was the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of San Marino from 1860 to 1908. He served as a captain regent of San Marino 12 times between 1857 and 1914, each for the usual six-month terms. He was the Captain Regent with the longest cumulative term (six years).
Domenico Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1866–1867
He served as a captain regent of San Marino 12 times between 1857 and 1914, each for the usual six-month terms. He was the Captain Regent with the longest cumulative term (six years).
Domenico Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1870–1871
He served as a captain regent of San Marino 12 times between 1857 and 1914, each for the usual six-month terms. He was the Captain Regent with the longest cumulative term (six years).
Marino Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1873–1874
He was a Sammarinese writer and politician. He was Captain Regent in 1873, 1882, 1887 and 1893.
Domenico Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1874–1875
He served as a captain regent of San Marino 12 times between 1857 and 1914, each for the usual six-month terms. He was the Captain Regent with the longest cumulative term (six years).
Domenico Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1881–1882
He served as a captain regent of San Marino 12 times between 1857 and 1914, each for the usual six-month terms. He was the Captain Regent with the longest cumulative term (six years).
Domenico Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1889–1890
He served as a captain regent of San Marino 12 times between 1857 and 1914, each for the usual six-month terms. He was the Captain Regent with the longest cumulative term (six years).
Marino Fattori
Captain Regent of San Marino, 1893–1894
He studied veterinary at the University of Bologna and also some courses in Latin and Greek.
William Casali
Captain Regent of San Marino, 2026 to today
He is a Sammarinese politician who is currently Captain Regent. He assumed office alongside Gerardo Giovagnoli on 1 October 2026. Casali was president of San Marino RTV from 2016 to 2018.
Culture
- The country has a rare constitutional structure: the Grand and General Council, a democratically elected legislature, selects two heads of state, the Captains Regent, every six months.
- San Marino was also the first currently-existing state to abolish the death penalty (in 1865), although it had not actually been used since the 1400s.
- The government of San Marino made United States President Abraham Lincoln an honorary citizen.
- San Marino is considered to have the earliest written governing documents still in effect, as the Statutes of 1600 are still at the core of its constitutional framework.
Picture
Monte Titano is the highest point in the country of San Marino, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
Image: Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.