The Arengo was the name of the assembly that ruled

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

from the fifth century A.D. to 1243, and of the popular councils which regulated the political life in

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

free ''

comuni A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

as well. It was made up of the heads of

's Great families and had no leader or fixed meeting place. This made San Marino almost unique in the period as a state that had no

Head of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. However this form of rule was cumbersome and the Arengo was crippled by feuds between the Great Families. By the early 13th century the Arengo had become so dysfunctional that the citizens of San Marino decided to elect their own assembly, which they called the

Grand and General Council The Grand and General Council (; ) is the unicameral parliament of San Marino. The council has 60 members elected for a five-year term. History From the fifth century San Marino was ruled by an assembly composed by all the family heads known ...

. This assembly became very powerful, and by 1243 the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, who was the nominal ruler of San Marino, made the

the supreme body of

Founding

After the death of the founders, the community was governed by a small leaderless collection of

monks A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

based around the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of St. Agatha on the top of Monte Titano. However, around a hundred years later when Rome looked close to collapse and the Goths were threatening Italy, eight neighbouring towns joined the 'land of San (saint) Marino (the founder)' seeking the saint's protection and blessing against the Goths. This laid the foundation for modern San Marino with its nine municipalities. With such a large expansion of population it became clear that San Marino could not remain without a central structure so the Arengo was formed; based on the original Roman Senate, it was made of the head of each of the Great Families.

1906 Arengo

{{Main, 1906 Sammarinese citizenry meeting Since the 17th century, the Grand and General Council became more oligarchic, with political power resting in the hands of powerful landowners. The Sammarinese Socialist Party agitated for universal male suffrage by convening an arengo in 1906. The heads of the households agreed to let all adult male citizens vote. Many wealthy landowners opposed the changes and formed the

Sammarinese Fascist Party The Sammarinese Fascist Party () or PFS was a fascist political party that ruled San Marino from 1923 to 1943. History The party was founded on 10 August 1922 and led by Giuliano Gozi, a Sammarinese World War I veteran who volunteered in the R ...

in 1922. They would go on to rule the country until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when a Socialist-

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

coalition government was elected.

Sources

*Oxford Great Lives, various, 2003, Oxford University Press *Encyclopædia Britannica online edition, various,2008 *Oxford History of Italy, John Briscome, 1998, Oxford University Press *The Catholic Encyclopedia, 2007, various, Jesuit Publishing *The Oxford book of the Christian Church, Michael Thirstone, 1996, Oxford University Press Politics of San Marino