Higlights San Marino and a 1 metre pizza

The forecast for today was not great – ie thunderstorms. This matched the weather we experienced overnight. However, I did look at one for San Marino which was indicated cloud/sun/showers and so we decided to go for it.

The first part of the drive was a challenge for the car wipers. They went full bore and just kept up with the torrential rain on the main road to Ancona. John did take one break on a side stop area but then there was the issue of rejoining the road with poor visibility and fast traffic. However once he was back in, the traffic moved fairly smoothly although more slowly than usual because of conditions, and we were all fine.

We had decided to go to San Marino via the autostrasse and that was perfect. We joined it near Ancona and the weather did improve a tad, although it may have also been the road surface that made driving easier. As we neared the San Marino even John agreed I was not being a total Pollyanna and the weather was improving.

San Marino is the 3^rd smallest nation, after the Vatican and Monaco. Katherine had mentioned it and we were all keen. It was a place we considered calling into on our way North on Sunday, but going there today proved much better as we had no problems filling in about 4 hours in the old city area.

 The nation covers 61 square km and has a population of about 33 000. It is completely surrounded by Italy and there was only a road sign to say we crossed the border.

The city of San Marino is on the top of Mount Titano, surrounded by a series of walls. There are three towers on the top, on each of the peaks. There is a recommended attraction of the changing of the guard, but not until July, so we could never see that.

We had hoped to go up the gondola into the city, but opted not to even try to find it as the area was still very misty. Instead we found a parking building then realised that there are glass fronted lifts that would take us up in 2 steps so we still had views, and all free!

We had a coffee stop on the way up and then we headed for the Museum of Torture. Jane had recommended it, we were all keen, and it proved a good choice. It is not big so we could ‘appreciate’ all the items and not be there for ages. The sad part was the comment that some of the equipment is still used. It had the items, along with information about their use, and in some cases old pictures. The displays were not gory, but reading the panels about their use was.

The first item was the seal of the Inquisition, with the comment it had on it an olive branch signifying mercy and an unsheathed sword to indicate the incredible wickedness of the accused and his/her well-deserved punishment. There appeared to be little mercy and lots of pain.

There were various items to punish women such as scolds and bridles. Most of the items on display had very nasty spikes that were either forced onto various parts of the body or hung around the neck so they forced themselves into the skin over time. Many of them killed as much by infection as any other cause. The Chasity belt display did say some women also used it to avoid rape after enemy troops took over an area.

There was a warders corset or bear jacket, made of thick leather and covered also in metal spikes but these pointed out and not in. As the name says, they were first used by bear hunters as protection against their claws and hugs. They then made excellent protection for prison wardens dealing with possibly knife-wielding and dangerous prisoners.

There were a couple of innocuous looking devices. One locked people into a position where cramp was induced to drive the prisoner slowly mad with the pain. Another was a barrow. The prisoner was chained to it for life and had to wander the streets shoeless and in clothes that became rags. The barrow had human and animal waste thrown into it, usually from a height and not accurately. The prisoner also had to wear a bell to announce his approach and face mockery from the children in particular.

There was a less awful looking article to wear around the near with large dice etc making it up. This was worn as punishment for the dissolute who could be addicted gamblers or irregular church attendees. It was meant as a warning, and if the wearer did not change their ways a more serious punishment would be given.

The information about the garrotte did not make pleasant reading. In the traditional one, the collar closes and the victim is asphyxiated. The adaptation has a spike that destroys the spinal cord at the same time. This is actually worse as it is both more painful and can prolong death. The first type was used in Spain until 1975. The second type is still used in some places.

John did describe the visit as buttock clenching. He is right. This area attracted much attention by the designers of the equipment!

We then strolled around the streets, admiring churches from the outside but not going in, as we were heading for the Towers next. The weather was OK. I was wearing a jacket and Katherine opted for using an umbrella Jane had lent us, however, we could almost have managed without them.

The first tower goes back to the first century and housed the prison until 1970. The second tower is on the highest peak (756m) and dates from about the 13^th century.  The third tower is not open to public access. We opted to only go into the 2^nd tower rather than get a multiple museum entry ticket, given the time we had. The second tower has a display of armour and weapons which were of interest, but also great views from the top which was the main reason for us to visit.

The photos we took on the walk along the top and from the top of the 2^nd tower show the quickly moving clouds as well as their height as some were below us. This made the views interesting and we could appreciate how far you could see on a fine day. The cliff faces were often sheer and protected by the fence line. We found a cache on the way, so have one to record this new nation to us.

We walked down towards the town and stopped for lunch at a spot that usually must have a busy outside area. Today it was empty and the streets relatively quiet so we had no problem getting a table. Then we headed back to the car as we had planned a country rather than motorway drive back and the weather was cooperating. On the way back to the car I spotted an Escher item in a window, and we left a short time later with something for me and a ‘starry starry night’ paperweight for John. Heavier items than we should be buying but they will be fine in my handbag when we finally leave.

The only issue we had was leaving the car park. The ticket we had just paid for did not open the gates and the lady at the office did not recognise Katherine and I as we went back to sort it as John had paid. She thought we had missed the 30 minutes we had to get out and wanted us to pay 1.50 euro more, but we had been less than 5 minutes so that was not the problem. Finally, she went to the gate, we drove there, and she let us out. John then made a slight mark on the car leaving. Thank goodness for the no excess on the car!!

We set the GPS for a series of places as we drove to avoid getting back on the autostrasse. It turned into an interesting drive that took us on narrow roads, 2 way roads and the occasional dual carriage way through the middle of Le Marche. We would have gone to Urbino on the way, as had been suggested, if we had not enjoyed extra time at San Marino.

Back at Jane and Ian’s, they told us the weather had caused a change of plans. We were going to have pizzas here from their oven but instead were going to meet 6 other people in the village for pizzas. At the village the five in our crew ordered a 1m pizza which was a concept new to us but not to Katherine. We choose 4 toppings and the size was perfect as it left room for dessert. There was another 1m pizza on the table for a group of 6, but they did not have dessert!! I was pleased we were five. We chatted to Olga and Marco, John and Julie, and Tony and Lesley over the evening. Olga and Marco help manage properties for people who are not based here themselves, Julie does a lot of gardening for people including Jane and Ian and Tony and Lesley have finished renovating a second property having sold one and moved away for a while. We talked mainly with them, as we were the last 7 to leave. They had spent much of the winter housesitting for people and recently been to Lake Konstanz where we go next.

Once home we turned down the offer of nightcaps in favour of bed. It was after 11pm and we had had an early start.