The postal history of San 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 San Marino postage stamps were a definitive stamps consisting of two designs covering seven denominations.[3] The stamps, which depicted the coat of arms of the republic with the Three Towers of San Marino at Monte Titano (except the 2-centesimi stamp), were created by the design firm Fratelli Pellas in Genoa and printed on Italian watermarked paper by the Officina Carta e Valori in Turin.[2] The first Commemorative stamps were introduced in 1894.[2]
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]
