• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

View Sample Route Map

37 San Marino

Monte Titano 739m

Location    Central Italy, 10km from Adriatic coast, 24km from Rimini
Start    San Marino town
Map(s)    Tourist maps showing Monte Titano’s three towers available from tourist information offices
Equipment    None
Climbing period    Year-round
Difficulty    1
Enjoyment    ****
Ascent    Little; depends on where you can park, or where bus drops you
Time    30mins plus extra time for negotiating narrow streets full of trinket stores
Water    Numerous cafés
Accommodation    Numerous hotels and two campsites
Getting there    San Marino signposted from A14 Bologna-Ancona autoroute. Take winding road up to San Marino town; many tourist car parks.
Public transport    Nearest station Rimini, then bus to San Marino
Nearby high point    St Peter’s Dome (Vatican City)

Tourist information leaflets for San Marino claim that this tiny republic is the most visited country in the world. I can hear some sniggers of disbelief, but this statistic is accurate if you calculate visitor numbers in ratio to native population. You will undoubtedly see plenty of holiday-makers in San Marino and are unlikely to have Monte Titano to yourself. In spite of its slightly ludicrous self-promotion, San Marino and its high point make a surprisingly interesting trip. Monte Titano is the mountain upon which the town of San Marino stands. There is something vaguely fantastical about the place, and comparisons with Jonathan Swift’s Laputa are inevitable. Its highest point is the second of three spectacular fortresses which are connected by winding hilltop walkways with precipices looking down on the surrounding plains of Italy.

Route

Follow signs to the ‘Second Tower’, also known as Cesta Fortress (the highest point in San Marino). You must pay a small entrance fee (€3) to go into the tower and the bizarre museum of weaponry inside (opening hours are 9am–5pm all year, except between Christmas and New Year). Go through the museum until you find a set of wooden steps leading upwards and take these. Go through two trapdoors and out onto a viewing platform at the top of the tower. You will have great views of the other two lower towers, the plains below and the coastline.

Did you know?

Famous native

Davide Gualtieri, a computer salesman and scorer of the fastest-ever football World Cup goal (8 seconds). He did so in a qualifier against England in 1993.

Irrelevant facts

San Marino has a fair claim to be the world’s oldest republic, founded in AD301. Napoleon in his conquest of Western Europe refused to conquer San Marino.