The manuscript from which the legend of San Marino is taken dates back to the first half of the 10th century, it is the “Vita Sancti Marini”, a hagiographic text published by the Swiss historian P. Aebischer.
According to tradition, Marino arrived from the island of Arbe in Dalmatia, in Rimini in the second half of the third century AD, called by Diocletian, with other stonecutters, to rebuild the port and the walls of the city seriously damaged by the barbarian invasions, certainly he had numerous opportunities to go to Monte Titano, also to find the material necessary for his work. He later decided to take refuge right on the mountain to escape first of all the persecutions against Christians and secondly the snares of a woman who professed herself against the truth, he was his wife, who had come from Dalmatia.
Many San Marino people in the past have dedicated themselves to the activity of stonemason in homage to the origins of our Saint founder and also for the abundance of raw materials. The stone extracted from the Titan quarries is sandstone, whitish, yellowish or gray in color. Stone processing has been an important resource for the San Marino economy for a long time, now the stonemason activity is much less practiced also due to the lack of raw material, the ancient quarries ceased their original activity have been transformed into parking lots.
It is a tribute to Marino as a stonemason via Donna Felicissima, a true en plein air art museum, where a series of sculptures dedicated to the theme of women are exhibited, one of these was created by Valentina Pazzini, sculptress Sammarinese, now living in Carrara, she recently dedicated herself to the creation of a work inspired by the terrorist attack carried out last year against the editorial staff of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, exhibited at the Venice Biennale.Italic******
