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50 free San Marino trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Forty-four questions on San Marino, the tiny republic on Monte Titano that has out-lasted every empire around it. Geography covers the 61 square kilometres surrounded by Italy, the nine castelli, Dogana and Serravalle, the cable car and the Adriatic view. History runs from the stonemason Marinus fleeing Rab in 301, through Cesare Borgia's occupation, the fog that saved the republic in 1543, Cardinal Alberoni, Napoleon's declined offer of land, Garibaldi's refuge, Lincoln's honorary citizenship, the fascist years, the mistaken Allied bombing of 1944 and the communist-socialist coalition of 1945-57. Government and culture rounds cover the two Captains Regent elected every six months, the Statutes of 1600, the Grand and General Council, the Crossbow Corps, the euro without EU membership, the stamps that fund the treasury, the Torta Tre Monti, the Three Towers on the flag, Valentina Monetta at Eurovision, the first Olympic medals in Tokyo, Imola's Grand Prix and Davide Gualtieri's 8.3-second goal against England. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the republic, its institutions and people, and the sentence that establishes it is quoted under each explanation. Suits a pub quiz, a European geography class or a day trip from Rimini.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01San Marino is entirely surrounded by which country?
Italy
It sits on the slopes of the Apennines about 10 km from the Adriatic coast.
Q 02San Marino ranks where among the world's countries by area?
Fifth-smallest
Just over 61 square kilometres; Vatican City is the only other microstate on the Italian peninsula.
Q 03The capital, the City of San Marino, sits atop which mountain?
Monte Titano
Its summit at 749 metres is the country's highest point and carries the Three Towers.
Q 04San Marino's largest settlement is not the capital but which border town?
Dogana
It lies in the municipality of Serravalle where the San Marino Highway crosses into Italy as the SS72.
Q 05By tradition, San Marino was founded in AD 301 by a stonemason saint fleeing which Adriatic island?
Rab
Marinus and his friend Leo had come to Rimini as masons; he built a small church on Monte Titano and 3 September, his feast, is the national day.
Q 06San Marino's national holiday, 3 September, marks what?
The founding by Saint Marinus in 301
It is the saint's feast day; the earliest evidence of a monastic community on the mountain dates from centuries later.
Q 07In which year did San Marino's borders become fixed, when Faetano, Fiorentino, Montegiardino and Serravalle joined?
1463
Chiesanuova had joined in 1320; a papal judgment of 1291 had already confirmed the community's tax exemption.
Q 08Which infamous son of a pope occupied San Marino for six months in 1503?
Cesare Borgia
Pope Julius II restored the republic's independence after his father Alexander VI's death.
Q 09A 1543 attempt to conquer San Marino failed when the invading army did what?
Got lost in dense fog
The Sammarinesi credited Saint Quirinus with the fog; the would-be conqueror was a nephew of the future Pope Julius III.
Q 10Independence from Alberoni's 1739 occupation was restored on which figure's feast day?
Saint Agatha
Pope Clement XII reversed his legate's takeover on 5 February 1740.
Q 11In 1797 Napoleon offered San Marino what, which its regents politely declined?
Extra territory
Regent Antonio Onofri had won Napoleon's friendship; the regents feared other states' revenge if they took land.
Q 12Which Italian unification hero found refuge in San Marino and later let it stay independent?
Giuseppe Garibaldi
San Marino and the new Kingdom of Italy signed a Convention of Friendship in 1862.
Q 13Which US president wrote that San Marino proved republican government could be 'secure and enduring'?
Abraham Lincoln
Q 21San Marino is divided into how many castelli, or municipalities?
Nine
Each has a Castle Captain and council; the 44 smaller curazie are the equivalent of Italian frazioni.
Q 22In 2022 San Marino elected Paolo Rondelli as a Captain Regent, making him the world's first what?
Openly gay head of state
Mirko Tomassoni had become the first head of state with a disability in 2007, and San Marino has had more female heads of state than any country.
Q 23Which San Marino ceremonial unit, active since 1295, still gives medieval-weapon shooting displays?
The Crossbow Corps
The letter came during the American Civil War, when the endurance of republics was very much on his mind.
Q 14San Marino claims to be the first existing state to have abolished what, in 1865?
The death penalty
It had not actually been used since the 1400s.
Q 15On 26 June 1944 San Marino was bombed by Allied aircraft on what mistaken belief?
That German forces were using it as a depot
The neutral republic protested that no belligerent had been allowed in; its wartime railway tunnels were sheltering refugees.
Q 16From 1945 to 1957 San Marino had one of the world's earliest elected coalitions of which kind?
Communist-socialist
It fell after the Rovereta affair; the Sammarinese Fascist Party had run the country from 1923 to 1943.
Q 17San Marino's two heads of state, elected every six months, hold what title?
Captains Regent
They are chosen from opposing parties and take office on 1 April and 1 October; citizens then have three days to file complaints against outgoing ones.
Q 18The two-headed regency is modelled on the joint office of which ancient officials?
The consuls of Rome
The council plays the Senate; the first two captains were named in 1243.
Q 19San Marino's earliest written governing documents still in force are the Statutes of which year?
1600
That is why it claims the world's oldest constitution still in effect.
Q 20San Marino's parliament, the Grand and General Council, has how many members?
60
Elected every five years by proportional representation; it also elects the ten-member Congress of State and the Council of Twelve.
About 80 volunteers in medieval dress; the Guard of the Rock patrols borders and guards the seat of government.
Q 24San Marino uses the euro without being in the EU. Which of these non-EU states does NOT use it?
Liechtenstein
Monaco and Vatican City complete the six; Liechtenstein uses the Swiss franc. San Marino mints its own national side on euro coins.
Q 25Before the euro, San Marino's currency was what?
The Sammarinese lira
It was tied to the Italian lira; the country's coin and stamp issues have long been prized by collectors.
Q 26San Marino's postage stamps, first issued in 1877, are mostly sold to whom?
Philatelists
They are a significant source of income; visitors can also buy souvenir passport stamps at the tourist office.
Q 27San Marino claims the world's highest rate of what, at about 1.6 per person?
Car ownership
It is one of a handful of countries with more vehicles than people, children included.
Q 28Under its conventions with its neighbour, San Marino receives an annual stipend at cost of which goods?
Salt, tobacco, cigarettes and matches
In return it may not grow tobacco or make goods under Italy's state monopoly, and all imports must pass through Italy.
Q 29Roughly how many tourists visited San Marino in 2014, versus a population near 34,000?
About 2 million
Tourism is over 22 percent of GDP, and on average there is one tourist present for every three residents.
Q 30The Funivia cable car links the capital with which town below?
Borgo Maggiore
The two-minute ride runs every fifteen minutes and carries about 500,000 passengers a year.