How San Marino was saved?

It answers a question asked by more and more people following the
mounting interest in San Marino since the small country took its place
among the nations of Europe and the world.

The Republic is a member of prestigious international organisations such
as the Conference on European Security and Cooperation, the Council of
Europe where it ranks on a par with mach larger coun­tries, and, since 2
March, 1992, the United Nations Organisation. It is a sovereign state in
every respect. It exchanges ambassadors and signs treaties. And the
singularity of all this becomes more and more evident as new
associations come into being following the fading iden­tity of national
states.

A lot of people ask themselves how a tiny medieval town, similar to many
others scattered throughout the Italian peninsula and the rest of
Europe, was able to survive the upheavals which periodically chan­ged
the political geography of Europe and remain an independent nation. 

    
San Marino is not the chance result of history. It was not created by
the whim of a potentate, king, pope or emperor. San Marino was born
thanks to the efforts – extended over several centuries – of a small
community which, having convinced itself that it did “not depend on
anyone” – a right bequeathed by the Saint – lay  claim to the
recogni­tion of that right with a determination and a consistency  which
arouse admiration and respect.

The history of San Marino is the progression of an idea, an idea of
freedom which a handful of mountain men with much extravagance and
little common sense conceived in their natu­ral and cultural isolation
well before the year one thousand and then went on to stubbornly defend
using every means at their disposal against all those who threatened it,
against the rogues, know-alls and bullies of every age who, like
Machiavelli, believed only in brute force and crafty codicils until
finally that idea took firm root.

      
A “unique pheno­menon” is how the Swiss historian, Paul Aebischer
describes it, and “a human event which deserves admiration”. It is
exciting to delve back into the events of history, all arranged in an
orderly and rational manner, to satisfy the need of the mind to
understand how that idea took on concrete form and how those poor and
ignorant mountain men were able to accomplish so much. 

     
The people of San Marino confront history, even great history, in a very
simple way, their decisions always based, as it were, on common sense,
and with an amount of astuteness common to all human beings. What
surprises is their perseverance, their determination which, for more
than one thousand years, has never failed, as if the community had
always been directed by a common mind, a common will, like the plan of
an up-and-coming family to acquire wealth and power.