Today is the Anniversary of the ‘Arengo’, a public holiday observed in San Marino on March 25th each year. This holiday commemorates the events on this day in 1906 which led to the first-ever parliament elected directly by the people.
Formed at the start of the 4th century, true to form, San Marino took a different approach to government than the surrounding nations and city-states. Rather than be ruled by a monarch, from the 5th century until the middle of the 13th century, San Marino was ruled by an assembly of the heads of the important families in the nation. This was called the Arengo (Italian for “meeting”) and had no leader or even a fixed meeting place.
By 1243, the people of San Marino had had enough of political feuds between teh families and the Pope made a replacement elected assembly, the Grand and General Council the supreme body of San Marino, kicking the Arengo into the long grass.
After three centuries of rule by the council, the Sammarinese Socialist Party was calling for democratic rule in the country.
An “Arengo” was summoned on March 25th 1906, when the citizens were asked whether the system of co-option of councilors for life should continue and whether the size of councils should be proportionate to the population of the communities they represented. The first proposal was rejected by 90.65% of voters and the second was approved by 94.89%. This led to the first-ever democratic elections in the country being held on June 10th 1906.
Behind the red door…
America says NO to the metric system
PIZZA – the American food…
BARKALOUNGERS
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of Sir Elton John singer, songwriter, pianist, (Reginald Dwight), who had the 1971 UK No.7 single ‘Your Song’, the 1973 US No.1 single ‘Crocodile Rock’ along with seven other US No.1’s. He had the biggest selling single of all time in 1997 with ‘Candle In The Wind 97’, plus has scored over 50 UK Top 40 hit singles. John has sold over 150m records worldwide. Elton and Bernie Taupin wrote the No.1 (with Kiki Dee) ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ under the pseudonyms Ann Orson and Carte Blanche. Some of the aliases Sir Elton has used checking into hotels include, Prince Fooboo, Sir Humphrey Handbag, Lillian Lollipop, Lord Choc Ice, Lord Elpus, Binky Poodleclip and Sir Henry Poodle. Elton John’s official nickname is Rocket Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f0TMfQNRk8
