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| offtopic:san_marino [2014/07/24 08:27] – Petike | offtopic:san_marino [2019/03/29 15:13] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| ====== San Marino ====== | ====== San Marino ====== |
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| One of the oldest continuously existing republics in the world (founded, according to tradition, by local hermit Marino/Marinus in ca the 4th century AD), San Marino is also one of Europe's smallest countries. Its territory is landlocked and completely encircled by Italy, and lies not too far from the city of Rimini and Italy's Adriatic coast. San Marino has only slightly over 31 000 permanent inhabitants, making it the second least populous sovereign country in both Europe and the world, right after [[the Vatican]] (even [[Liechtenstein]] and [[Monaco]] have a few thousand people more than San Marino). | One of the oldest continuously existing republics in the world (founded, according to tradition, by local hermit Marino/Marinus in ca the 4th century AD), San Marino is also one of Europe's smallest countries. Its territory is landlocked and completely encircled by [[Italy]], and lies not too far from the city of Rimini and Italy's Adriatic coast. San Marino has only slightly over 31 000 permanent inhabitants, making it the second least populous sovereign country in both Europe and the world, right after [[the Vatican]] (even [[Liechtenstein]] and [[Monaco]] have a few thousand people more than San Marino). |
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| Similarly to [[Andorra]], the little Italian-speaking republic has preserved some unique political traditions, offices and terminology - chief among them being the fact that there are two co-ruling heads of state and government (the Captains Regent), who are elected //every six months//. Modern Sanmarinese law has a basis in the //Leges Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini//, a multi-volume collection of law books from the 16th century, written in Latin, compiling the existing law codes of the country. Though this sounds like AH, Abraham Lincoln actually personally visited the country during the 19th century and praised the long-standing local tradition of constitutional democracy. | Similarly to [[Andorra]], the little Italian-speaking republic has preserved some unique political traditions, offices and terminology - chief among them being the fact that there are two co-ruling heads of state and government (the Captains Regent), who are elected //every six months//. Modern Sanmarinese law has a basis in the //Leges Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini//, a multi-volume collection of law books from the 16th century, written in Latin, compiling the existing law codes of the country. Though this sounds like AH, Abraham Lincoln actually personally visited the country during the 19th century and praised the long-standing local tradition of constitutional democracy. |
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| Municipalities are referred to as //castelli//, reflecting the fortified and mountainously situated nature of the oldest medieval towns in the state, including the City of San Marino itself. The country lacks a standing army, but has some ceremonial troops left, in addition to the police and gendarmerie. During WWII, San Marino worked hard to preserve its neutrality, and utilised it to provide shelter for tens of thousands of Italian refugees, many of them Jewish. | Municipalities are referred to as //castelli//, reflecting the fortified and mountainously situated nature of the oldest medieval towns in the state, including the City of San Marino itself. The country lacks a standing army, but has some ceremonial troops left (The Crossbow Corps, The Guard of the Rock, etc.), in addition to the police and gendarmerie. During WWII, San Marino worked hard to preserve its neutrality, and utilised it to provide shelter for tens of thousands of Italian refugees, many of them Jewish. |
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| Most of San Marino's modern day profits come from tourism, the service sector and local industry. The country is effectively too small to have an airport of its own (though heliports exist). It used to have a rather cool narrow-gauge tram system back in the first half of the 20th century, but it got seriously damaged in World War II and eventually dismantled in later decades. The country still operates a gondola lift, though. | Most of San Marino's modern day profits come from tourism, the service sector and local industry. The country is effectively too small to have an airport of its own (though heliports exist). It used to have a rather cool narrow-gauge tram system back in the first half of the 20th century, but it got seriously damaged in World War II and eventually dismantled in later decades. The country still operates a gondola lift, though. |
