The postal historyofSan Marino can be traced to October 7, 1607, with the introduction of public postal services.[1] The republic's postal needs were handled by a post office in nearby Rimini, Italy; the first San Marino post office opened in 1833.[1]
When postage stamps were introduced in the mid-19th century, San Marino signed a postal treaty with Italy to use Italian stamps for its mail.[1] On March 2, 1877, a new agreement was signed between the two countries that enabled San Marino to issue its own stamps.[2]
The first commemorative issue of San Marino marking the commissioning of the Palazzo Pubblico in 1894.
Over the years, the attractive designs and unusual shapes – many are triangularly shaped – of San Marino's stamps have been extremely popular with philatelists around the world.[4] It is estimated that 10% of the republic's revenue is generated by the sale of its postage stamps to international collectors.[5] The government of San Marino has the world's only philatelic minister of state, Simone Celli, who carries the title (in Italian) La Segreteria di Stato per le finanze, il bilancio e la programmazione, l'informazione, i rapporti con l'azienda autonoma di stato filatelica e numismatica (State Secretariat for Finance, Budget and Planning, Information, Relations with the Autonomous Philatelic and Numismatic Company).[6]
Balsimelli, Francesco. Posta, francobollo, filatelia con particolare riguardo alla Repubblica di San Marino. Milan: Pubblicazioni rotariane, 1970 19p.
Colla, Giorgio and Luigi Sirotti. Storia Postale: Repubblica di San Marino: dall'epoca napoleonica al 1892. Rome: Sassone; Dogana: Filatelia Sammarinese, 2001 171p.
Filanci, Franco and Alessandro Glaray. Il servizio postale della Repubblica di San Marino. s.l.: Sirotti, 1977 279p.
Glaray, Alessandro and Franco Filanci. Repubblica di San Marino: storia postale dalle origini alla fine dell'800. Turin: Notiziario ASIF, 1972 142p.
Morganti, Giuseppe. La Filatelia. San Marino: AIEP; Rimini: Guaraldi, 1993 31p.
Repubblica di San Marino: catalogo dei francobolli 1877 - 1988. San Marino: Azienda Autonoma di Stato Filatelica e Numismatica, 1989 127p.
Philately
