Classroom lesson · The Three Towers of San Marino · 🇸🇲 San Marino

The Three Towers of San Marino

Three ancient towers on top of a rocky mountain - a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The three towers of San Marino perched on the rocky ridge of Mount Titano

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

San Marino has three famous towers that sit high up on a rocky mountain called Mount Titano. They have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years, watching over the tiny country below. UNESCO - a group that looks after important places around the world - has named them a World Heritage Site because they are so special.

Tell me more

Imagine climbing a steep mountain and finding three stone towers lined up along the top like three giant chess pieces. That is exactly what you see on Mount Titano. The towers are called Guaita, Cesta, and Montale, and together they make San Marino one of the most recognisable skylines in all of Europe.

From the towers you can see for a very long way - on a clear day you can spot the Adriatic Sea shimmering in the distance, and you can see right across Italy in every direction. That is because San Marino sits completely inside Italy, like a tiny island of land surrounded by another country.

Each tower is different. Guaita is the oldest and the most well-known. Cesta stands at the very highest point of the mountain. Montale is the smallest and most private of the three. A path called the 'walk of the three towers' links them all together along the mountain ridge, so visitors can stroll from one to the next.

The towers and the old town around them were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2008. That means they are considered part of the shared treasure of all people on Earth - not just San Marino's own treasure.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01If you could build a tower on a mountain top, what would you put inside it?
  2. 02Why do you think people chose to build on top of a mountain rather than in a valley?
  3. 03What does it mean for a place to be a 'World Heritage Site'? Why might that matter?
  4. 04San Marino can see Italy from its towers but is a separate country. What do you think it would feel like to be a tiny country surrounded by a much bigger one?
Try this

Classroom activity

Draw Mount Titano from the side as a silhouette. Add the three towers along the ridge and label them Guaita, Cesta, and Montale. Then, in the sky around them, draw or write five things you might be able to see from the top on a very clear day.