Why San Marino is a Seriously Underrated Gem

I was almost embarrassed to tell my Italian coworkers about my wife's favorite destination from our Italy trip.

It would have been easy if she preferred Venice, or perhaps quaint but touristy Alberobello, or even the Dolomites along the Austrian border. Except her favorite wasn't even technically part of Italy.



That's right. The Most Serene Republic of San Marino, a landlocked microstate surrounded entirely by the Italian regions of Le Marche and Romagna, was her top choice among 17 destinations from our 23-day journey. While I may not always agree with her feminine perspective, she does make a very convincing case of why this tiny enclave should beat tourism heavyweights like Venice in her opinion.



To her San Marino offers an irresistible combination of enchantments that few women would be able to turn down: romantic medieval castles and townscape, Italian food and wine at bargain prices, and on top of all this, tax-free shopping on handbags, shoes and jewelry. At the end of our two nights in town my wife even asked why I didn't book a third night ... that's how much she loved her time at San Marino.



While I did feel slightly proud of handpicking what would become my wife's favorite destination, I must admit that I almost made the mistake of reducing San Marino to a rushed day-trip. After all, most discussions on traveler forums seem to focus on the inconvenient public transport (true), bad restaurants (totally untrue) or tax-free shops targeting tourists (not necessarily a bad thing!), and respected writers such as Rick Steves typically consider San Marino hardly worth the detour without a private car. I am here to dispute San Marino's dubious reputation, and explain why this is a largely misunderstood and underrated gem for independent travelers.



Claiming to be the world's oldest republic, San Marino represents the last vestige from an era when independent city-states proliferated across the Italian peninsula. But unlike your typical princely states like Milan or Ferrara, San Marino has largely remained a democratic republic for its entire 1700 year history, staying neutral from military conflicts and consequently preserving a beautiful historic centre that became today's UNESCO World Heritage Site.



To most independent travelers, the allure of San Marino lies in its classic appearance of an impenetrable mountaintop citadel, with massive defensive walls and crenellations encircling a small medieval town of cobblestone streets. In the daytime the pint-sized capital city gets easily overrun by day-tripping Italian shoppers searching for that hot deal on watches and perfumes, or Japanese tour groups snatching up its rare collectible stamps and coins. But if you slow down and stay for a couple nights, you'll gain a true appreciation for the timeworn beauty of the meandering little alleys, not to mention the friendliness of the San Marinese.



But first the caveat: San Marino is in the middle of nowhere, away from highspeed rail lines and major highways on the sparsely populated Adriatic side of the Apennine Mountains. The closest major city is probably Bologna, realistically about 3 hours away through a bus-train transfer. Most tourists simply won't gravitating towards San Marino -- you do have to make an effort to get here.



On our itinerary we linked San Marino with two other UNESCO World Heritage sites, starting by taking a half-day trip from Bologna to the spectacular Ravenna, then taking the afternoon train and subsequently a Bonelli Bus to San Marino. After staying two nights we took the school bus -- yes, SCHOOL BUS -- to our next destination of Urbino. I'll elaborate on the San Marino - Urbino connection later, but San Marino can definitely be done via public transport.



It was difficult to appreciate just how small San Marino was as a country until our arrival. The entire nation is smaller than Manhattan, and its so-called capital city -- really a few zigzagging streets culminating at its mountaintop fortress -- isn't much bigger than Central Park. Our day-and-a-half was more than enough for visiting the major sights in town, with time to spare for some tax-free shopping.



We started our morning with an obligatory hike up to the 1000-year-old Guaita Tower, a relatively small but photogenic castle surrounded by a convoluted system of battlements with deadly crenellations and embrasures designed specifically for San Marino's famous crossbowmen.



The short hike from the First Tower to the Second provided just a taste of the physical exertion awaiting potential invaders. Perched on top of the precarious 755 m summit with a sheer 200m drop to the east, the Second Tower offered a spectacular panorama of the Marche countryside stretching all the way to the Adriatic Sea on this clear day.



We did not hike all the way to the small Third Tower, once an important lookout in the defensive line of the republic and remains inaccessible to visitors even today. Unfortunately the Palazzo Pubblico was also closed on this date due to a parliament session, and we spent the first half of our afternoon at the smaller museums before taking advantage of the tax-free shopping.



Travelers complaining of the monotonous nature of San Marino's shops probably never ventured outside the city walls where the real San Marinese do their grocery shopping at its family-run markets. I had a daily routine of walking down to Market San Marino on Via Gino Giacomini, getting our supply of Prosciutto and juice and practicing my horrible Italian on the amused store clerks. Here the friendly lady at the Salumeria counter introduced this clueless Canadian to one of the best cured sausages of our trip, an exceptional locally produced Salame da Banco from La Delizia.



For a glimpse of the authentic San Marino without the impact of mass tourism, one can take the cable car down to the old peasant community of Borgo Maggiore, a much less visited section of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here your typical Profumerie and Pelletterie are replaced with pharmacies and cheap clothing stores serving the local populace, and of course, prices are slightly cheaper compared with the upper town.



From Borgo Maggiore we considered taking the local bus to the factory outlet at Rovereto, but the upper town alone presented such a plethora of small shops that we could not possibly peruse in a half day. A cheap 90 euros later my wife came away with two genuine Italian made leather handbags, certainly part of the reason for her appreciation of this lovely castle-on-a-hilltop.



But our favorite time of the day came after the shops closed and the busloads of tourists left, when San Marino's romantic small town character emanated throughout its labyrinth of cobblestone streets. With barely any visitors remaining the entire walled town became our private medieval wonderland of steep climable ramparts and twisting backstreets, with an unbeatable mountaintop panorama to boot. That, is why my wife much preferred San Marino by night compared with the crowded and somewhat grimy Venetian alleys.



Early evening was also our much anticipated hour for a taste of local flavors. Previously I had read much about other travelers' complaints of mediocre or overpriced restaurants, which proved to be furthest from the truth. Not only did we come across two of our best meals right here, but we also found restaurants to be generally 20 percent cheaper here in tax-free San Marino.


OSTERIA RIGHINO
Piazza Liberta 10; located right on the square across from Palazzo Pubblico.


This was one of the best restaurants of our trip in terms of quality-price ratio.

This is not the Michelin-starred Righi la Taverna, but the cheaper Osteria in the cellar downstairs which shares the same kitchen at less than half the price. Instead of 20+ euros for Antipasti and 25+ for Secondi, we're talking bargain prices of 7 to 10 euros for Antipasti and Secondi starting at just 9 euros, all at similarly uncompromised quality.



For a filling starter we ordered this Insalata Affumicata, a very generous portion of smoked swordfish and tuna which turned out, as our waiter did warn, "very smokey." While it was slightly salty for my own preference, it did stoke our appetite for the excellent dishes to come.



At 9 euros this half cockerel was one of the best-valued dishes of our trip.

Yes, not a chicken breast or a quartered chicken, but one half of a flavorful free-range cockerel, unsparingly seasoned, over-roasted and even served with its own side of salad. The meat was juicy, the skin was crisp, and the complex piquancy from the hot chili was just what one might expect from a Michelin-starred kitchen ... except I would expect to pay about 15 euros for similar Secondi at anonymous osterie elsewhere in Italy, let alone coming from a Michelin-1-star kitchen at the heart of San Marino.



Yet the cockerel wasn't even the best dish of the night IMHO. Even better was this exceptionally tender roast of suckling pig with a caramelized skin and a lovely sauce of sauteed fennel. It was probably as cholesterol laden as it looked, but that's exactly part of the irresistibility, especially at a bargain price of 10 euros.



It was a delicious yet surprisingly affordable meal from a Michelin quality kitchen, though served with less extravagant ingredients than the foie gras and pigeons upstairs. Besides, did I mention that this place was smack dab on San Marino's main square, 30 m away from the Palazzo Pubblico? You simply cannot ask for a better deal for a romantic dinner in town, which is why I cannot understand people who claim they can't find reasonably priced meals in San Marino.

Bill for Two Persons

Insalata Affumicata	10 Euros
1/2 Galletto alla Diavola con Insalata Mista	9 Euros
Maialino al Finocchietto Selvatico	10 Euros
Crostata del Pasticcere	5 Euros
Draft Beer x 2	9 Euros
Coperto x 2	3 Euros
TOTAL	46 Euros (CAD$64.4)

While Osteria Righino was one of the best-valued restaurants of our trip, it's conspicuously advertised on the main square and is quite well-known among travelers. The following discovery however may just be the best kept secret in San Marino.

HOSTARIA DA LINO
Piazza Grande 48, Borgo Maggiore, San Marino; 1 minute walk south of Borgo Maggiore's cable car station.


This secluded eatery in the village of Borgo Maggiore could give Osteria Righino a serious challenge in terms of quality-price ratio.

How good was Hostaria da Lino? Combined with Osteria Righino I would gladly return to San Marino in a heartbeat, just for the meals. As out-of-the-way this little restaurant was, it's also easily accessible from San Marino City -- BUT ONLY FOR LUNCH -- via the cable car which dropped us straight into Borgo Maggiore. The only problem was that the cable car shut down by 20:00 or so outside of peak summer season, which made this the perfect lunch spot.



No self-respecting foodie would pass up on fresh Tartufo when in Central Italy, especially during the autumn harvest season. The real magic in this Uovo al Tartufo wasn't the generous heap of shaved black truffles, but the absolute softest bed of steamed egg white and cream at the bottom. The truffles weren't of the best quality to be honest, but at the astoundingly cheap price of 8 euros I certainly didn't complain.



Perhaps an even better deal was my wife's sizable pot of Soute di Cozze e Vongole, a small mountain of Mediterranean shellfish with the absolute freshness that nobody has the right to expect from a landlocked mountainous nation. The quality of these clams was actually better than what we had at a seafood-themed restaurant in Bologna a couple days back, and of course the best part was the price of less than 10 euros.



But my favorite was a plate of Tagliolini ai Frutti di Mare that turned out to be one of the best pasta dishes of our trip -- perfectly textured pasta all'uovo, sauteed in wine and olive oil and allowed to absorb all that savory Mediterranean seawater from the clams, mussels, scampi and calamari ... and priced somehow at just 10.5 euros! Add a 1/4 litre of respectable house wine for 2.5 euros, and we've got a lavish lunch of truffles and seafood for 33 euros. I don't think they even charged Coperto ... on second thought, perhaps Hostaria Da Lino should dethrone Righino as our best-value sit down meal of the trip.

Bill for Two Persons

Uovo al Tartufo	8.0 Euros
Soute di Cozze e Vongole	9.5 Euros
Tagliolini ai Frutti di Mare	10.5 Euros
1/4 Litre of House White	2.5 Euros
Bottle of Water	2.5 Euros
TOTAL	33 Euros (CAD$46.2)

Prior to leaving San Marino we tried one more restaurant, not as incredibly good value as Hostaria da Lino and Osteria Righino but still relatively cheap if you're used to prices in Venice or Milan.

RISTORANTE SMALLER
Via Paolo III, 7, San Marino City; located on the winding path of Via Paolo III, 50 m in the uphill direction from Convento dei Frati Cappuccini.


For whatever reason they named this pizzeria/ristorante Smaller, it certainly wasn't a reference to the size of its dining room. The first night we passed by to find a full house of clientele coming for some sort of "pizza night," and decided to make a reservation for the next evening. As tempting as the wood fire oven sounded, we were much more interesting in sampling a wider variety of regional offerings.



After our filling lunch at Hostaria da Lino we decided to skip the Antipasti and share one Primo and one Secondo, starting with a perfectly textured Gnocchi Verdi, al dente but still pillowy and filled with mellow Mozzarella. The sauce was supposedly truffle creme and Porcini, though it proved to be slightly underwhelming given the expectation. The Gnocchi themselves were much better.



For Secondo we ordered exactly what my Italian coworkers advised me not to order. As Canadians we've been spoiled with an abundance of Angus Beef (and recently Wagyu Cross) steaks from Alberta, and to be frank I was not particularly impressed with the Bistecce Fiorentina at supposedly two of Florence's better restaurants some years ago. Nothing against Italian steaks, just a personal preference of tenderness above the deep flavor that Italian beef seems to be better known for. Besides, this was the most expensive food item on the menu, exactly as my Italian friends warned.

What piqued my interest wasn't the steak itself, but the promise of seasonal wild Porcini with its unmistakable woody fragrance that goes so well with charbroiled beef. And I wasn't disappointed -- look at this generous heap of Porcini chunks, and the mountainous sides in the background! While these Porcini wasn't the most flavorful of our trip (still dreaming of the wondrous Porcini pizza at Ristorante Cascade in Ortisei), 18.5 euros certainly wasn't unreasonable for such a lavish Secondo that was also gigantic enough for two to share.



We would have missed this creamy Cialda Croccante al Mascarpone if it wasn't for our foresight to skip the Antipasti. As satisfying as this meal was, it was probably the least memorable of our three meals in San Marino. That's just how amazing our dining experience in San Marino turned out.



Last but not least we had a good bottle of the fruity Roncale di San Marino at a reasonable price. While Ristorante Smaller wasn't quite the exceptionally good deals that Hostaria da Lino or Osteria Righino were, after ordering the restaurant's most expensive Primo, most expensive Secondo, most expensive Dolce as well as a full bottle to sample the local terroir, our final bill still totaled less 50 euros. Oh, did I mention that Coperto was free?

Bill for Two Persons

Gnocchi Verdi di Patate e Mozzarella alla "Norcina"	9.5 Euros
Tagliata di Manzo ai Porcini	18.5 Euros
Cialda Croccante al Mascarpone	5 Euros
Bottle of Roncale di San Marino	13.5 Euros
Coperto x 2	FREE
TOTAL	46.5 Euros (CAD$65.1)

Not only did we come across some of our best dining bargains in San Marino, but we also enjoyed our cheapest hotel room of the entire 23-day trip here at the clean and friendly Hotel Joli. I don't think we've ever booked a 3-star for less than 60 euros in Western Europe, not even in inexpensive Germany, let alone Italy.



But the most amazing part about our hotel room, aside from the price, was this night scenery of the Guaita Tower and the historic ramparts from our second floor balcony. My wife was right ... two nights were really too short.



EPILOGUE: SAN MARINO TO URBINO BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT ... i.e. SCHOOL BUS!

This is for independent travelers wishing to connect between San Marino and Urbino. As close as these two UNESCO World Heritage Sites may appear on the map (less than 30 km apart as the bird flies), the mountainous landscape of Central Italy usually requires travelers to first travel from San Marino to Rimini by bus (1 hour), transfer to a regional train to Pesaro (30 minutes), then finally transfer to another bus to Urbino (1 hour), typically taking at least 3 hours even if you time your connections well.

But there is a much more efficient way, available only on school days (Monday to Saturday in Italy) during the school year (usually mid September to early June here in Le Marche). That's right -- we're talking about the school bus.

As of 2015 the school bus passes through the City of San Marino at 06:40 in the morning, arriving at Urbino's Borgo Mercatale (just outside the city wall) at 08:00, then returns from Urbino at 13:55 and passes through San Marino at 15:05. At San Marino we flagged down the bus at 06:45 as it passed by the Vecchia Stazione (at the roundabout where Viale Federico D'urbino turns into Via del Voltone, about 30 m south of Hotel Joli). The bus traveled through some seriously winding roads in Le Marche's countryside and arrived at Urbino, picking up 15 or so students along the way before delivering the them to their classes in Urbino at the promised time at 08:00. Without this school bus it would have taken more than 3 hours to arrive instead of just 75 minutes.