There’s a small country called San Marino that is hidden inside the Italian peninsula, and it is beautiful.
As it seems, countries don’t have to be large, powerful, nor populated to be sustainable. The Republic of San Marino is tiny, it has a small army, and it has one of the smallest population in Europe, but is still one of the oldest and wealthiest countries in the world.
Situated on the northeastern side of the Apennine Mountains, completely surrounded by Italy, San Marino got is independence from the Holy Roman Empire on September 3, 301 AD.
Since then, it adopted its share of Roman laws and traditions, many of which is still follows until this day.
While some countries have presidents or kings and queens as heads of states, San Marino has Captains Regent.
The Captains Regent are two people that serve as the heads of state of the republic and are elected every six months. They have to belong to one of the country’s political party, and should not have been Captain Regent in past 3 years.
So two new president every six months, what else is different about San Marino?
Well, it is the only country in the world with more vehicles than people, it has a very modest army and it imports all its energy from Italy.
However, San Marino has a high-income economy and is one of the wealthiest nations in the world in terms of GDP.
It sits in the hills and has gone virtually untouched for centuries. Walking along its narrow streets and alleys you’ll notice houses hundreds of years old, and just outside of the city are green hills and crops for as far as you can see.
