Libertas!

Last summer, as we sat around planning out trips, we decided that we would try our very best to make it to every European country that we could.  Last Saturday, we crossed another country off our list- the tiny Repubblica San Marino.

It's a country!

San Marino claims to be the oldest republic in the world, founded around the year 300. It is surrounded only by Italy and is the 5th smallest country in the world (behind only Vatican City, Monaco and a few random islands).

We contributed to the country's main industry of tourism on Saturday and enjoyed the lovely weather that the Italian spring (I'd call it summer though now!) provided.  It would be pretty neat to live in a country that has no national debt, shares borders with only one country (and Italy at that!), has the lowest unemployment in Europe, is on the Euro, but is not a member of the EU, and has no sales tax.  You'd also be in great shape if you lived in San Marino because the entire country is one big hill.

Hiking to the castles

The three towers of San Marino are quite iconic and are depicted on the country's license plate, flag and coat of arms.  The country is also very proud to be independent and the motto "Libertas" is also a quite common site.  We hiked up Mount Titano and along the trails that connect the towers.  From there, we had impressive views of the countryside and also the Adriatic, which is a mere 10km away.

There's the Adriatic

We checked out more of the town including the Palazzo Pubblico...

Where we saw the Rock of the Guard...

The Basilica di San Marino...

After a lovely afternoon in San Marino high atop the hill, we descended the mountain and found ourselves hungry and near the beach...

The beach in Rimini

We checked out an "in" spot- Rimini.  According to my research, Rimini is like the Atlantic City of Italy. It's one of the largest beaches in Italy and surprisingly, it was quite beachy.  I say that because most Italian , beaches are not at all like American beaches.  They are rocky and small and people often sunbathe on patches of concrete.  This beach was a long stretch of sand, although somewhat cluttered with "stuff" like changing huts, umbrellas and attractions, like a dolphin show(!?!)

Rimini was quiet on Saturday, likely because it was still not "hot" enough for the Italians to be at the beach and was mid-day.  We found the 70-80 degree temperatures very enjoyable and had lunch/dinner right across from the beach.

An nice day trip and another country off the list!

Ham & Cheese

I said I would write about Easter in Italy, but to be honest, it wasn't all that different than Easter in the US. (Just subtract the Easter Bunny and add a few more Catholics.)  The church services weren't different at all, less impressive if anything. There weren't even Easter Lillies on the altar!  I thought Easter Sunday would be a day where everything would be closed here, but turns out, Italians just do what they do on other days- sit at the cafe or bar and eat/drink.  The Monday after Easter was a double Italian holiday being that it was Easter Monday and Liberation Day.  I've been told that this is the equivalent of our Memorial Day- the "unofficial start of summer".

Parma hams stamped and good to go!

So fast forward to the weekend after Easter.  We had the opportunity to enjoy a free ride and tour of the city of Parma.  Normally, we don't jump at the idea of being on a bus load of Americans in an Italian city, but we can't argue with free.  Plus, we figured this was a place we probably wouldn't think to go to on our own.

Look at all that cheese!

After a lovely two-ish hour bus ride, we arrived at our first stop- a Parmesan Cheese Consortium on the outskirts of town.  Here, we got to see some of the process of the famous cheese-making.  The most impressive part of this operation was the size of said factory.  We were told this was one of the larger consortiums and it was nothing more than a two level ranch-style home.  Although they only make the cheese early in the morning when the milk arrives and we missed it, we did get to see all the equipment, molding, salting and storing of cheese.  (Fun fact of the day- the cows whose milk is used for true Parmesan cheese are ONLY fed certain grass that comes from the region of Italy between Bologna and Parma.) After the tour, we got to test taste...and I probably ate my weight in Parmesan cheese.

Making the cheese

From the cheese factory, we headed to the city of Parma and got a quick tour of the main sites- the Baptistery, the Duomo and the Pilotta.  We were then free for lunch and a bit of site-seeing.  Apparently, Parma is the food capital of Europe and well known for some of its local delicacies.  We found a nice place to eat and, unbeknownst to us, it was the #1 rated restaurant in the city!

Inside the Duomo in Parma

The streets of Parma

From the city center, we headed to the small village of Quinzano (sounds like the Italian form of Quincy!) up in the hills to a Parma Ham factory.  (Again, factory is used loosely here because it was a house run by Carlo and his family.)  We got to view all the stages of drying pigs legs to make the famous prosciutto that this region is known for.  While interesting, the tour was half-English/half-Italian, so all I really know is that the legs arrive (only the legs....other pig parts go elsewhere) and they are dried out for a long time and tested for quality.  We got to sample some of the prosciutto along with Salame Felino (not cat Salami, just from the nearby town of Felino) and culatello.

The various stages of dried pig legs

Almost prosciutto time

Not bad for a free trip!