My husband's trip to Italy Part 3 - The mountains and castle of San Marino

San Marino is one of the European microstates and is the smallest populated country within  the Council of Europe.  

San Marino is the third-smallest country in Europe, with only Vatican City and Monaco being smaller.

Part 2:  My husband's trip to Italy Part 2 - Venice and Riccione

Part 1:  My husband's trip to Italy Part 1 - SPECTACULAR Venezia

We begin where we left off -  in Riccione.

Riccione is known as the Green Pearl of the Adriatic,  so-called because of the wealth of green spaces and pedestrian zones in the city.

And now we leave Riccione and head toward San Marino.

A street scene in  the village of San Marino. 

Steep, narrow streets make for difficult walking in the village.

The Museo de Tortura or Museum of Torture in San Marino.

Included in this museum are the following instruments of torture: the Iron Maiden, the Guillotine, the Rack, the Interrogation Chair, the Chastity Belt.

The Heretic's Fork, the Noisemaker's Fife, the Skinning Cat and the Spanish Spider are shown as a testimony to human nature's ability to inflict ever imaginative ways to torture people.

Soldiers in Piazza della Libertà during the changing of the Guard of the Rock at the Palazzo Publico or the public palace, San Marino's seat of government.

San Marino is the oldest constitutional republic in the world and dates from September 3, 301 A.D., when a stonemason by the name of Marinus was a Christian on the run, escaping persecution of his Christian beliefs.

Marinus fled to the high peak known as Monte Titano and built a small church there.

San Marino is not a member of the European Union but it does use the Euro, while also minting its own coins and highly decorative stamps, an important source of revenue. 

Looking down into the valley from Monte Titano. 

Atop Monte Titano, looking toward the Adriatic Sea in the background.

You can see much of the village of San Marino from this view.

It is said that on a clear day you can see the coast of Croatia.

Peering between an opening in the fortress walls atop Monte Titano.

Castle Turret. There are three turrets on the castle. This is Montale Tower or the Prima Torre, the first turret. 

Looking at Montale Tower from the barred windows of the tower of La Cesta, the  Seconda Torre  of the castle. Each of the three turrets are located on different shoulders of Monte Titano.

Monte Titano has an altitude of 2,457 ft.

The three towers of Monte Titano are Guaita, the oldest of the three, built in the eleventh century; the thirteenth-century Cesta, located on the highest of Monte Titano's summits; and the fourteenth-century Montale, on the smallest of Monte Titano's summits. 

San Marino has a famous cake known as La Torta Di Tre Monti, (Cake of the Three Mountains/TowersO similar to a layered, wafer cake covered in Chocolate.

Guaita Tower,  photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, taken by Ricardo André Frantz. 

Walking around outside the castle.

A grand view of Montale Tower.

  A close up of Montale.

The way back down from the castle. A person must descend the castle backwards, down these stairs.

 The stunning grand finale. Montale Tower atop Monte Titano.