Environment
The Republic of San Marino is in the Appennines mountains close to the Italian Adriatic riviera town of Rimini. It is surrounded on all sides by Italy.
History
The official date of the founding of the Republic of San Marino is 3 September 301, making it the oldest remaining European republic. The country is named after a Christian stonemason, Marinus the Dalmation, fled the anti-Christian Roman Emperor Diocletian to establish a community of Christians on Mount Titano. The decentralised administrative system, conducted through the nine castle committees, dates from 1463. The common law legal system was set out in Statutes adopted in 1600.
During the nineteenth-century movement for Italian unification, San Marino offered asylum to revolutionaries, among them Garibaldi. Its independence has remained unthreatened ever since, save for when Italian troops massed on the border in 1957 to bring down the republic’s communist government.
This so-called ‘bloodless revolution’ led to rule by a centre-left coalition which continued until the 1990s, when a new Social Democrat–Christian Democrat coalition was formed.
Governance
There is no constitution. Basic civil rights were enacted in 1974 and the law was revised in 2002. It guarantees freedom of the person, domicile, dwelling and emigration, assembly and association, expression of thoughts, conscience and cult. The law guarantees free education to citizens.
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, language, or social status.
Although the government does not require official recognition or registration for religious groups, it requires legal status for tax or other commercial purposes. There is a concordat with the Holy See for relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Other religions, such as the Baha’is and Jehovah’s Witnesses are included in a registry of cultural associations.
A 2004 reform no longer requires that the country’s lower court judges be non-citizens. However, most lower court judges are Italians.
A law bans foreign workers from indefinite employment status. They must renew work permits every year. Non-Italian foreign workers must obtain an Italian residence permit before they can apply for employment.
In the 1980s and 1990s the government ratified several UN and European covenants and conventions, including the Framework Convention on National Minorities.
