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Mount Titano on the other hand, makes a nice short hike.
- There are 3 towers on the 3 peaks of Mount Titano, in the capital called San Marino, and actually it is necessary to hike a bit...
...up and down to reach from one tower to other, but actually it looks like I'm hiking only up and up.
Mount Titano is a huge limestone rock, for the dimensions of the country, which has a somewhat gentle slope on the Western side...
...and a very abrupt cliff on the Eastern side, facing the seaside of Riviera Romagnola.
The highest that the cliff gets is around 200 metres of fall,...
...and it can be quite dangerous because in some places there are not fences and it does get windy.
- Oh, I see the tower!
The main stopovers in the hike are the Three towers that can be seen from all over the country atop the Mount.
These towers had a very important defensive role in the times when San Marino was fearing invaders from...
...anywhere in the Italic peninsula, now they offer incredible views to the surroundings as a privileged vantage point.
- One of these three towers in San Marino, the one from the 14th century which is the only one not in use...
...actually because it's private, it's tower Montale.
- There is something you can see both in the flag and the coat of arms of San Marino, there are 3 towers...
...which they call the First, the Second and the Third, basically, they are situated on the highest peak of San Marino,...
...which is Mount Titano with a height of 749 metres, that's why it's so windy over here, and walking around can be so steep that,...
...well, you need to have proper shoes, not like what I had!
From tower to tower, the slopes are more gentle than to get to the third one, and shoes are not such a problem anymore.
The highest tower of them all, Cesta, Fratta, or simply the second tower...
...is open to the public and the place was used already in Roman times as a watchtower.
The first mention to it dates back to 1253.
- It's just amazing how they placed this fortress, it's so close to the mountain cliff and actually over here there is a great edge.
- And hanging on the place of this tower, I really see how high is the mountain.
- From the second tower I see you can get the best view ever in this country, because you can see at the same time...
...from the same place both fortresses, the first and the third one...
- And inside here they have a museum, so it's very good they have this place to get a bit warm now.
The Sammarinese Museum of Ancient Arms, divided in 4 rooms, contains about 2000 arms and armours.
- If a Sanmarinese family had more than two male children, which was quite typical for a Catholic country,,...
...then half of them had to go to the army.
The military force is so small, that it's in fact defended by the Italian forces.
Despite this, there are 4 branches, mostly with ceremonial duties.
- Being the third smallest country in Europe after Monaco and Vatican,...
...with a total area of 61 square kilometres, San Marino has in total 220 kilometres of roads.
Which are mostly due to its mountainous nature.
The last climb uphill in the country for me is to the oldest Tower, the only one from where you can see all the towers at the same time.
Guaita once served as a prison.
Its iconic silhouette brings to mind San Marino to anyone who has seen pictures of the country.