Staying independent is job one for a small state. Sometimes modifying behavior to get along is necessary. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Here is something you never see on a postage stamp, the state prison. Now San Marino’s prison was really an ancient fortress on a hill so worth a look. The year before though, there was a political murder that threatened relations with Italy. Showing the prison may make the point that San Marino could handle any crime itself.
Todays stamp is issue A24, a 5 Centesimi stamp issued by San Marino in 1922. It displayed the Roca state prison and was part of a 19 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 unused.
San Marino and Vatican City were the only city states that maintained their independence during the unification of Italy in the 1860-70s. The people are Italian and the population is small. After the devastation of World War I, politics in Italy turned toward the extremes. This was understandable as mainstream politics had just been completely discredited by the war, not just in Italy. San Marino had remained neutral in that war but did not completely avoid the wars deprivations or the political radicalization. In 1921 radical leftists murdered a prominent doctor, Carlo Bosi, who was known to have fascist views. This greatly angered Italians and there was a great fear that San Marino would be invaded by gangs of Squadrismo. Squadrismo were localized groups of blue shirted fascist that often responded in kind to Socialist violence, they were right wing rivals to Mussolini’s black shirts. Among methods they were known for was forcing people to take castor oil a strong laxative, leaving victims naked tied to a tree, and made to swallow a live toad. San Marino quickly asked the Italian state police to send 30 officers to help keep the peace. In 1923 a fascist government was elected and a government was formed under a fascist who had voluntarily fought for Italy in World War I.
Once elected radicals become undemocratic and the fascists remained ensconced until 1943 when the fascists fell in Italy. It was then the turn of the communists to get elected and then overstay their welcome. There was a governing crisis in 1957 when the communist lost their majority but refused to yield power until threatened with violence from Italy.
Rocca prison on todays stamp ceased being a prison in the early 1970s. It is now a tourist attraction as an 11 century fortification. It regularly fires off 19th century cannons to the delight of spectators. San Marino, now quite wealthy is somewhat known to have very few prisoners. So few that it is easier to have their food catered by a restaurant than maintain a cafeteria. There are periods where a prison sentence means solitary confinement because there are no other prisoners. What happens when a small town is it’s own country.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the diplomats of San Marino. It must require the great skill of many generations of diplomats to keep San Marino from being swallowed. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.