This is the official foundation day of the Republic of San Marino, a landlocked area of less than 30 square miles on the Adriatic side of central Italy. The oldest independent country in Europe, San Marino takes its name from St. Marinus. According to legend, he was a deacon and stonemason when one day a woman wrongly identified him as the husband who had deserted her. He barricaded himself in a cave until she gave up, and he spent the rest of his life on Monte Titano as a hermit. The present-day city of San Marino was built on the site where his original hermitage was believed to be. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary