Napoleon in
San Marino

Six months of occupation

In 1503 the independence of the Republic is threatened by Cesare Borgia (1475-1507), known as Il Valentino, Lord of Romagna, son of Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope Alexander VI. Il Valentino occupies the territory for six months and moves the capital to Serravalle. The death of his father and the hostility of the new pontiff, Julius II, force him to abandon the ambitious enterprise.

With Clement VIII

At the start of the seventeenth century the lack of heirs of Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere puts the Duchy of Urbino in crisis. The balance of relations that had guaranteed Sammarinese independence is at stake. In 1603 the Treaty of Protection is signed with Pope Clement VIII, confirmed by Pope Urban VIII in 1628 and definitively entered into force in 1631 on the death of Francesco Maria, when the Duchy passes to the Holy See. San Marino thus manages to preserve its independence.

A Cardinal on the Titano

In 1739 Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, papal legate of Romagna, enters Sammarinese territory under a pretext: the search for two outlaws, Pietro Lolli, former Councillor and Captain Regent, and Marino Belzoppi. The Cardinal alters the rules of San Marino and forces the authorities to swear loyalty to the Papal State. Acts of rebellion and clashes with the Cardinal's troops follow. On 5 February 1740 the intervention of the papal delegate Enrico Enriquez, sent by the Holy See, allows the Republic to regain its independence. Since then the date has been commemorated with the Festa di Sant'Agata, co-patron saint of the Republic.

1797, Monge's letter

With the French Revolution of 1789 a chain of events shakes Europe. For San Marino the problem is to safeguard independence from aggressive French policy, an ever more pressing need once Napoleon completes the conquest of Northern Italy and reaches the borders of the Legations. The Sammarinese government must choose between maintaining the alliance with the Papal State or building a new one with France.

In 1797 a letter from General Alexandre Berthier orders the Captains to arrest Monsignor Vincenzo Ferretti, bishop of Rimini, accused of inciting crimes against the French and taking refuge in San Marino with all his belongings. The government replies with diplomacy, committing itself to do whatever possible to satisfy the French request. In reality the bishop manages to flee across the border. The credit goes to the then Captain Regent Antonio Onofri, who also wins the respect and friendship of Napoleon.

Napoleon commits to guarantee the independence of the Republic through a letter delivered by the scientist Gaspard Monge, French commissioner for sciences and arts. The agreement also offers territorial enlargement, which San Marino declines to avoid future claims and the risk of losing the freedom defended over centuries. Napoleon exempts the Sammarinesi from every tax and donates a thousand quintals of wheat and four field cannons, never delivered to the Titano for unknown reasons.

In the alternating events that follow, San Marino manages to keep its relations both with Napoleon and with the Papal State. The story continues into the nineteenth century, with Antonio Onofri as Father of the Nation and the flight of Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1849.