Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

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streams (Marecchia and Ausa) which pass through Rimini
to the sea have their head-waters partly in the north and
west of San Marino, while its south-eastern valleys are
drained by the sources of the Marano. Farming and
stock-raising occupy the bulk of the population (total, 5700
in 1850, 7816 in 1874), and their wines and oxen are both
highly prized. The city of San Marino (1600 inhabitants),
formerly reached only by a mule-track but since 1875 by
a good carriage-road, is a quaint little place with steep
and narrow streets and picturesque but gloomy houses of
undressed stone, and containing five churches, a council-
hall, an audience chamber, a law court, a little theatre, a
museum, and a library. In the centre of the principal
square (Pianello) stands a white marble statue of Liberty,
presented by the duchess of Acquaviva. At the foot of
the city-hill lies the Borgo di San Marino (the commercial
centre of the republic); and other municipal villages are
Serravalle, Faetano, and Montegiardino, each with remains
of its castle and fortifications.
The republic is governed by a great council (Generale-Consiglio-
Frincipe) of 60 members (20 nobles, 20 burgesses, 20 rural land-
owners) named for life by the council itself. From this body is
elected the Council of Twelve, which with the assistance of a legal
adviser decides in the third and last resort. Two captains-regent
elected every six months (one from the nobles, one from the other
two classes) represent the state, which also has its home secretary,
its minister of foreign affairs, its chancellor of the exchequer, an
army of 950 men, and a regular budget. By treaty with Italy
(1872) San Marino, instead of maintaining a customs line of its
own, receives a certain proportion of the Italian customs revenue,
and, agreeing not to grow tobacco, is allowed to purchase foreign
tobacco duty free. To avoid any difficulty about copyright there
is no printing press in the republic.
San Marino derives its name from a certain Dalmatian mason
who, along with a comrade immortalized by the neighbouring castle
and cathedral of San Leo, settled in this region in the 3d century.
The bones of Marinus are said to have been removed to Pavia by
the Lombard king Astolphus and restored to the little city on
Mount Titanus by Pippin; but the first authentic document proving
the existence of the community dates from 885. Situated as a
bulwark between the hostile houses of Montefeltro and Malatesta,
San Marino fortunately attached itself to the stronger party, which
in the 15th century placed its representative on the ducal throne
of Frbino. The assistance which it rendered Duke Federigo and
his allies, the king of Naples and the pope, against Sigismondo
Malatesta was rewarded in 1463 with the castles and territories
of Serravalle, Faetano, and Montegiardino. On the annexation of
Urbino to the States of the Church (1631), the independence of San
Marino was acknowledged; and the unauthorized assertion of papal
jurisdiction by Alberoni in 1739 was disallowed by Clement XII.
on February 5th 1740. In 1797 Napoleon I. decided to preserve
this “echantillon de republique;” and in 1854 it was protected from
the designs of Pius IX. by the interference of Napoleon III. At
the unification of Italy, Cibrario, a citizen in the service of the house
of Savoy, helped to secure excellent terms for San Marino.
See Melcliiorre Deliico, Memorie storiehe . . . di San Marino ; Marino Fattori,
Ricordi storici .... ]869; Count Bmc, St Marin, Paris, 1876 ; Bent, A Freak
of Freedom, 1879 ; Casati, La repubblica di San Marino, Milan, 1881.
SAN MARTIN DE JOSE (1778-1850), Chilian gene¬
ral, was born at Yapeyu, on the Uruguay river, February
25, 1778. In his eighth or ninth year he accompanied his
own family to Spain for his education, and being intended
for the military profession was admitted into the college of
nobles at Madrid. He saw active service and gained dis¬
tinction in the war of independence, and had risen to the
rank of lieutenant-colonel when in 1811 he returned to La
Plata. Entering the service of the insurgents there he was
entrusted with raising a troop of cavalry, and afterwards
was appointed to the chief command of the army acting in
Upper Peru against the forces of the viceroy of Lima.
After re-establishing his health at Cordova in 1814, he
proceeded in 1815 to take command of Cuyo, where he
organized an expedition for the liberation of Chili (see vol.
v. p. 618). He crossed thei mountains early in 1817, and,
after gaining a brilliant victory at Chacabuco on 12 th
February, was pressed by the people of Chili to take the
supreme command, and gained a still more brilliant victory
at Maypu, 5th April 1818. After organizing the govern-
-SAN 267
ment of Chili he sailed with the squadron under Lord
Cochrane for Peru, 21st August 1820, and, capturing Lima,
drove the Spaniards from the coast and assumed the title
of “Protector” of Peru in 1821, but resigned it a year
afterwards, and, sailing secretly for Europe, spent the
remainder of his life in absolute seclusion near Paris. He
died at Boulogne, 17th August 1850.
See Biographical Sketch of General San Martin attached to
Peruvian Pamphlet, being an exposition of the Administrative
Labours of the Peruvian Government, 1823.
SANMICHELE, Michele (1484-1559),oneof the ablest
architects of his time, learnt the elements of his profession
from his father Giovanni and his uncle Bartolommeo, who
both practised as architects at Verona with much success.
Like almost all the enthusiastic students of that time
he went at an early age to Rome to study classic sculp¬
ture and architecture. His great talents soon became
known, and he designed and carried out a very large
number of works at Verona, Venice, and other places.
Among his earliest are the duomo of Montefiascone (an
octagonal building surmounted with a cupola), the church
of San Domenico at Orvieto, and several palaces at both
places. He also executed a fine tomb in S. Domenico.1
He was no less distinguished as a military architect, and
was much employed by the signoria of Venice, not only
at home, but also in strengthening the fortifications of
Corfu, Cyprus, and Candia.2 One of Sanmichele’s most
graceful designs is the Cappella de’ Peregrini in the church
of S. Bernardino at Verona—square outside and circular
within, of the Corinthian order.3 He built a great number
of fine palaces at Verona, five of which still exist, as well
as the graceful Ponte Nuovo. His last work, begun in
1559, was the round church of the Madonna di Campagna,
a mile and a half from Verona on the road to Venice.
Like most other distinguished architects of his time he
wrote a work on classic architecture, Li Cinque Ordini
delV Architettura, printed at Verona in 1735. Sanmichele
to some extent followed the earlier style of Brunelleschi;
his work is always refined and his detail delicate. His
chief pupil was his nephew Bernardino.
See Ronzani and Luciolli, Fabbriche . ... di M. Sammichele,
Venice, 1832 ; and Selva, Elogio di Sanmichele, Rome, 1814.
SAN MIGUEL (S. Salvador), or St Michael’s. See
Azores, vol. iii. p. 171.
SANNAZARO, Jacopo (1458-1530), one of the poets
of the Renaissance in Italy, was born in 1458 at Naples
of a noble family, said to have been of Spanish origin,
which had its seat at San Nazaro near Pavia. His father
died during the boyhood of Jacopo, who was accordingly
brought up in a very plain way at Nocera Inferiore. He
afterwards studied at Naples under Pontanus, when,
according to the fashion of the time, he assumed the name
Actius Syncerus, by which he is occasionally referred to.
After the death of his mother he went abroad,—driven,
we are told, by the pangs of despised love for a certain
Carmosina, whom he has celebrated in his verse under
various names; but of the details of his travels nothing is
recorded. On his return he speedily achieved fame as a
poet and place as a courtier, receiving from Frederick III.
as a country residence the Villa Mergillina near Naples.
When his patron was compelled to take refuge in France
in 1501 he was accompanied by Sannazaro, who did not
return to Italy till after his death (1504). The later years
of the poet seem to have been spent at Naples without
interruption or memorable incident. He died on April 27,
1530.
The Arcadia of Samiazaro, begun in early life and published in
1504, is a somewhat affected and insipid Italian pastoral, in which
1 See Della Valle, Storia del Duomo di Orvieto, Rome, 1791.
2 See Bartoldi, Sanmichele al servizio della repubblica Vencta.
3 See Giuliari, Cap. de' Peregrini, Verona, 1816.