Foundation Day in San Marino – September 3, 2026

History of Foundation Day in San Marino

The history of San Marino can be traced back to 301 A.D. when Saint Marinus founded a Christian refuge on Mount Titano in present-day San Marino. The Republic of San Marino is a landlocked country in southern Europe, bordered by Italy to the north and surrounded by the San Marino Apennine Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. It covers an area of just 380 square miles and has 32,000 people.

On October 17, 1739, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, legate of Ravenna, occupied the country. But independence was restored by Pope Clement XII on February 5, 1740, the feast day of Saint Agatha. She became a patron saint of the republic from then on.

In 1915, San Marino declared itself neutral in World War I. This did not sit well with Italy, which had joined the Allied forces and suspected that Austrian spies could use the republic as a base for their operations. Italy tried to force a detachment of Carabinieri into the republic and cut the republic’s telephone lines when it did not comply.

The Republic of San Marino joined the fighting on the Italian front in World War I, providing two groups of 10 volunteers each. One group fought as combatants, and the other operated a Red Cross field hospital. Austria-Hungary later suspended diplomatic relations with San Marino due to the existence of this hospital.

Although San Marino did not formally enter World War II, it was wrongly reported in an article from “New York Times” that it had declared war on the United Kingdom on September 17, 1940. Later, the Sammarinese government told the British that they had not declared war on them.