The University of the Republic of San Marino will make available to the public an archive of over 200 documents preserved in the parish church in the historic center and dating from 1529 onward. The activity, conducted by the University's Sammarinese Center for Historical Studies in agreement with the Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro, has just completed its first phase, which involved the survey of the existing material. This operation was necessary due to the condition of the texts, which are stored in 120 containers, most of which lack descriptions that would allow us to determine the exact nature of the documents.
This has led to the discovery of archival records that relate to the ecclesiastical and other aspects of the republic, as described by Ercole Sori, director of the Sammarinese Center for Historical Studies: "The parish church performed functions that were not exclusively religious," the academic explains. "It was an important point of reference for the collective life of San Marino and, for example, managed relations with the rural population, as it owned land. It also kept demographic records, linked to the community's civil life."
The project, which is involving the University of San Marino with the work of archivists Sonia Ferri and Allegra Paci, will continue with the launch of the second phase, in which the material will be cataloged, organized, and matched with descriptions useful for identifying its contents: "The documents will be available for consultation, which will allow us for the first time to understand what is in this archive. Users," concludes Sori, "will be able to search and find information, in addition to conducting traditional searches, which are possible by visiting the Pieve headquarters and examining the papers."