Montegiardino (;

Romagnol Romagnol ( or ; ) is a Romance language spoken in the historical region of Romagna, consisting mainly of the southeastern part of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The name is derived from the Lombard name for the region, ''Romagna''. Romagnol is classifi ...

: ''Munt Giardêin'') is one of the nine castelli of

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 ...

. It occupies an area of and is the smallest castello in the country by both land area and population. As of 2023, it had a population of 1,015 inhabitants.

History

The territory of San Marino consisted only of Mount Titano until 1463. The nation became part of an alliance against

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (19 June 1417 – 7 October 1468) was an Italian condottiero and nobleman, a member of the House of Malatesta and lord of Rimini and Fano from 1432. He was widely considered by his contemporaries as one of the mos ...

, the Lord of

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

, who was defeated. 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 ...

Pius II gifted the towns of Fiorentino, Montegiardino, and Serravalle to San Marino as a reward for being part of the alliance. Later,

Faetano Faetano (Romagnol: ''Faitén'') is one of the nine castelli of San Marino. It occupies an area of . As of 2023, it had a population of 1,173 inhabitants, and was the third least populated castello of San Marino. History The territory of San ...

voluntarily joined the country, and the boundaries have remained the same ever since. The people of San Marino besieged the castle walls of Montegiardino to wrest it from Malatesta's army. The siege continued for a long time, until it was eventually dismantled under the orders of

Federico da Montefeltro Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro Order of the Garter, KG (7 June 1422 – 10 September 1482), was one of the most successful mercenary captains (''condottiero, condottieri'') of the Italian Renaissance, and Duk ...

. It was only recovered almost two centuries later in 1647 by the nearby church. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of Montegiardino consists of a traditional blue colored shield with curved lower border, and a yellow trimontium with three red flowers with stems and two green leaves.

Geography

The country of San Marino is divided into nine

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

(castelli) for administration. With a land area of , Montegiardino is the smallest castello in the country and the smallest top-level country subdivision in the world by area. The region had a population of 967 inhabitants in 2018, which increased to 1,015 in September 2023. It is the smallest subdivision of the country by population. It borders the San Marino municipalities Fiorentino and

and the Italian municipalities

Monte Grimano Monte Grimano Terme is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region Marche, located about northwest of Ancona and about west of Pesaro. Until 2002, it was known as Monte Grimano. Monte Grimaro Terme border ...

and Sassofeltrio. Montegiardino is sub-divided into one

curazia The Republic of San Marino comprises nine () as its first-level administrative divisions. Each castle is led by a castle captain () and a castle council (), elected every five years. Like Italian , each has a capital (), with other population ...

amongst the 44 secondary sub-divisions of the country. Cerbaiola the only curazia in the castello. Montegiardino is home to some of the departments of the

University of the Republic of San Marino The University of the Republic of San Marino (in Italian: ''Università degli Studi della Repubblica di San Marino'') is a university in the Republic of San Marino. It was created in 1985, but it started its activities with the Scuola Superiore d ...

, the country's only

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. Antica Locanda Modà inside Palazzo Mengozzi, a 17th-century building decorated by Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna and classified as a national heritage site by the local government is present in the region.

International relations

Montegiardino is twinned with: * Bléré, France (since 2017)

References

External links

{{Coord, 43, 54, 32, N, 12, 29, 04, E, display=title, region:SM_type:city_source:dewiki Subdivisions of San Marino