DRIVE-BY COUNTRY
Europe's Gun Capital?
By Justin T. Carreño
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It's not often you can view an entire country from a car window. Before heading to Rome and Vatican City, I made a point of visiting the 5th smallest country in the world, San Marino, as part of my quest to visit the six European microstates. And, yes, you can see it (mostly) through a car window. The country is a landlocked Republic, situated in northern Italy, about 10 miles from the nearest significant population center, Rimini, on the Adriatic coast. It's less than half the size of Washington, DC, 24 square miles, with a population of about 33,000 people.
Although there's a small commercial airport in Rimini, the best airport connected to the real world to get to San Marino is Bologna, where I originated from -- an hour's train ride north from Rimini.
San Marino is a vestige city-state, which became a political refuge for supporters of the Italian unification in the late 19th century, including the leader of Italian independence, Giuseppe Garibaldi. The country survived the onslaught of occupiers, including Napoleon, throughout the ages, largely through diplomatic engagements, and the fact it wasn't desirable land. The leaders, in keeping with the country's diplomatic prowess, extended solidarity during the American Civil War, by reaching out to President Abraham Lincoln, where they wrote a letter saying from one Republic to another, to stay strong, and granted Lincoln honorary citizenship. Lincoln replied, "It has by its [San Marino] experience demonstrated the truth, so full of encouragement to the friends of Humanity, that government founded on Republican principles is capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring."
.jpg "Back in the USA?") | |
| Back in the USA? Guns, guns, guns |
My impression during my day trip there was that it is an enigma and even maybe an anomaly. The main historic "old city" is perched on Monte Titano, with three ancient watchtowers that define the San Marino skyline, rising above the republic’s central Apennine peak. From the towers, you can view several of the villages situated in the nine municipalities along the nation's hilly flanks, known as "castelli" or castles.
Although nowhere near as isolated as 100 years ago, it certainly isn't a place you just stumble upon. You need to deliberately take the only realistic modes of transportation to get there -- public bus, taxi, or private vehicle. Whatever mode you choose, you’ll wind your way up the mountain until you get to the city entrance, where you’ll be greeted by a huge San Marino flag flying, a modest guard house, and someone who I suppose was a guard, but who seemed to take it upon himself to direct traffic — maybe a crossing guard.
Much of the food is – unsurprisingly – Italian, although there are some more local Sammarinese (San Marino demonym) dishes, that may as well be, dare I say, Italian. After walking around the city...or country, I stopped at a small pizzeria for a slice of pie. I was sitting a communal table and talked to a local while waiting for my lunch. He was a Millenial guy actually born and raised in San Marino. He didn't speak much English, but he was friendly I was able to glean some insight. He said he currently lived in Rimini, but was back to see his family for a few days. He said many Summarinese leave to seek more opportunities in surrounding Italy. I took my pizza slice and made one of the ancient walls my table, while gazing at the stunning view all around -- mountains to the north and west and the sea to the east.
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The old city is touristic, and suffers from a glut of souvenir shops, but (during the low season, anyway) you can easily walk/hike a bit, and escape into the more secluded areas away from tourons (tourists + morons), and be transported to a medieval time. Back in the tourist zone, I realized that many of the streets in the historical center included either a gun or sword shop. Not one gun shop or one sword shop, but several. I have to say it was a bit strange to see an array of Samurai swords and pistols -- was I back in the States? Initially, I naively thought that these were shops selling replicas, but that wasn’t the case. Apparently, San Marino has the most liberal gun laws in western Europe and so buying your weapon of choice here is not at all that difficult. I thought only the U.S. so freely made guns available and seemingly as easy to purchase as the local Italian gelato.
It's a beautiful destination, and I'd say check it out if you’re nearby in northern Italy. It’s definitely somewhere that I’d recommend visiting for a short while – maybe for the day or just one night. Whether or not you need to stay any longer is debatable.