San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

is located in Southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, an enclave (landlocked) in central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, which it borders for 39 km. The third smallest independent state by area in Europe after the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, San Marino is dominated by the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

. Located at , it covers an area of . Completely mountainous, only 17% of its territory is arable. Several rivers flow through the country, the largest being the Ausa, the Marano, and the San Marino River.

Climate

The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

of San Marino is a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Cfa''), with continental influences, having warm summers and cool winters that are typical of inland areas of the central Italian peninsula. Snowfalls are common and heavy almost every winter, especially above of altitude.

Political geography

San Marino is divided into 9 castelli, or municipalities. They are: * Acquaviva * Borgo Maggiore * Chiesanuova *

Domagnano Domagnano is a municipality in San Marino. It has 3,565 inhabitants (May 2018) in an area of 6.62 km2. Geography It borders the San Marino municipalities Faetano, Borgo Maggiore, Serravalle and the Italian municipality Coriano. History Doma ...

* Faetano * Fiorentino *

Montegiardino Montegiardino is one of the 9 communes or ''castelli'' of San Marino. It has 967 inhabitants (May 2018) in an area of 3.31 km2. The residences of the University of the Republic of San Marino, the country's only university, are located in Mon ...

City of San Marino The City of San Marino ( it, Città di San Marino; also known simply as San Marino and locally as Città) is the capital city of the Republic of San Marino. It has a population of 4,061. It is on the western slopes of San Marino's highest poi ...

(''Città di San Marino''), capital town * Serravalle

Protected areas

San Marino has no protected areas as of November, 2016. San Marino is defined as a Global 200 Ecoregions. San Marino has no

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

species.

International law

San Marino gave credence to and accepted the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, adheres to the

International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is an international environmental agreement aimed at the "proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry". It governs the comme ...

, and ratified the

World Heritage Convention The World Heritage Convention, formally the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, is an international treaty signed on 23 November 1972, which created the World Heritage Sites, with the primary goals of ...

. They are members of

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...

and IPCC. They are signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Domestic law

While San Marino has no official protected areas, it has a law prohibiting the cutting down of any tree over in diameter, meaning that most trees within the country are legally protected. Under the FRA 2010 Categorization of Forests, all of the land area of San Marino is considered "Other land", with none being "Forest" or "Other wooded land". Despite the fact that 16% of the country is woodlands, predominantly of oaks and other broadleaves as '' Quercus pubescens'', ''

Fraxinus ornus ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergr ...

'', ''

Ostrya carpinifolia ''Ostrya carpinifolia'', the European hop-hornbeam, is a tree in the family Betulaceae. It is the only species of the genus ''Ostrya'' that is native to Europe. The specific epithet ''carpinifolia'' means "hornbeam-leaved", from , the Latin word ...

'', '' Acer obtusatum'', '' Quercus cerris'', ''

Quercus ilex ''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer. Description An evergreen tr ...

'', ''

Populus nigra ''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref> ...

'', '' Salix alba''. Shrublands and similar lands are dominated by ''

Crataegus monogyna ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced in ...

'', '' Cornus sanguinea'', ''

Spartium junceum ''Spartium junceum'', known as Spanish broom, rush broom, or weaver's broom, it is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and the sole species in the genus ''Spartium''. It is closely related to the other brooms (in the genera ''Cyti ...

'', '' Rubus ulmifolius'', '' Rosa canina'', '' Prunus spinosa'', '' Quercus pubescens'', ''

'' and '' Ulmus minor'' cover the 17%. Badlands are only 4% of the country, and less than 1% is covered by rivers.

References

{{SanMarino-geo-stub sv:San Marino#Geografi