San Marino - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms San Marino

The national coat-of-arms consists of an azure background with three silver towers, windows and walls outlined in black and Guelph-style battlements. The towers are sitting on three green peaks (Cesta, Guaita and Montale); each tower has a silver plume on the summit.

The coat-of-arms is situated on a heart-shaped shield and bordered in gold with a laurel branch on the right and an oak branch on the left. On the bottom the branches are joined by a ribbon with the motto "Libertas".

On April 6, 1862, a deliberation was made to add, on the top of the shield, an eight-pointed crown closed by three semicircles, studded with pearls and connected to a globe with a cross. The crown represented the sovereignty of the Republic which acknowledged no higher authority than itself.

The various Municipalities of the Republic each have their coat-of-arms:

- City of San Marino: few variations have been made to the National coat-of-arms, three gold towers with white plumes at the top; on the bottom a wall with the motto "Libertas"

- Borgo Maggiore: originally Mercatale – the second largest Castel. The coat-of-arms depicts the location of this Municipality at the foot of Mount Titano

- Serravalle: literally the name means "that closes the valley", with reference to its strategic position. The coat-of-arms, depicting a red tower, alludes to its defensive role ("azure background, square red tower adorned with three Ghibelline battlements")

- Domagnano: originally called Montelupo, the coat-of-arms depicts a wolf in the foreground and the ruin of a tower on top of a hill

- Fiorentino: gold with three red roses. The three flowers (fiori) refer to its name

- Acquaviva: the coat-of-arms corresponds to its previous name: Montecerreto. "Azure, with three turkey oak trees with leafy green branches arranged in a triangular form"

- Faetano: the coat-of-arms represents the name of the territory, deriving from "beech", in particular, "a Forest of Beech Trees"; in gold showing an uprooted beech tree

- Montegiardino: the coat-of-arms clearly captures the place/name: "Azure background, with three red roses with green leafy stems, in a fan-shape, on top of a mountain with three gold peaks"

- Chiesanuova: the original name was Pennarossa (red plume) which is depicted on the coat-of-arms: "azure background with a red plume"

The coat of arms of San Marino probably originates in the 14th Century, and can be seen as a whole as a symbol of freedom and independence of the oldest republic in the world.

The components of the coat of arms are in detail:

• In the blue shield there are three green mountains with three silver towers, which are decorated with a weather vane with a silver ostrich feather. The towers symbolize the three citadels of San Marino (La Guaita, La Cesta and La Montale), while the hills represent the three summits of the Monte Titano. See: The Three Towers of San Marino
• The motto "LIBERTAS" (Lat. freedom). It possibly refers to the taking in of victims of political persecution in the earlier years of San Marino, and to the amazing maintenance of independence in the midst of many larger states. The motto could also have developed from the alleged last words of the founder Marinu "Relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine" (Lat. "I leave you free from both men"). ^[1]

• An oak- and laurel branch, which surrounds the coat of arms are symbols for the stability of the republic and the defense of the liberty.
• A crown, which serves a symbol of the sovereignty.

The coat of arms of San Marino adorns among other things the flag of the country and the logo of the Sammarinese football team FSGC.