Unemployment and departures
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are marked by serious economic difficulties. Population growth collides with the widening gap between agricultural and industrial development, with the opening of new transport routes and with the more favourable conditions offered by transoceanic countries. Unemployment rises, and with it the phenomenon of emigration.
From the Italian ports to the Americas
In the second half of the nineteenth century Sammarinese emigration is mostly local and seasonal, directed towards Tuscany, Rome, Genoa and Trieste. Only at the end of the century do permanent migrations of whole families to the Americas (United States, Argentina and Uruguay) and to Greece, Germany and Austria begin.
The phenomenon continues into the 1970s, with slowdowns during the First World War and accelerations coinciding with the rise of Fascism in Italy and its echo in San Marino. Today Sammarinese communities living abroad are still numerous, gathered mainly in the United States, France and Argentina. The story of these departures is preserved and told at the Museum of the Emigrant.
25 March, the turning point
The political turning point comes on 25 March 1906, when the Arengo is again convened in the parish church: 805 family heads of 1,054 gather to vote. The two questions on the ballot concern the leadership of the government by the Sovereign Princely Council and the proportional composition of the Council between the inhabitants of the countryside and the city. It is the first form of referendum in Sammarinese history.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 25 March 1906 | Arengo in the parish church, 805 of 1,054 family heads |
| 5 May 1906 | First electoral law of the Republic |
| 10 June 1906 | First political elections, victory of the democratic forces |
The reform marks the return to effective popular participation, after the long oligarchic process of the eighteenth century. The story continues with the events of the world wars and fascism.