There are states bigger than some cities, and states smaller than some villages. San Marino falls into the second category - the third-smallest country in the world, lodged in the middle of Italy, yet with a title nobody else holds: the oldest surviving republic on the planet, independent since the year 301.

With an area of just 61 square kilometres, the whole country can be toured in a single day - but what it offers stays long in the memory. Everything is dominated by three towers, Guaita, Cesta and Montale, raised on the three peaks of Mount Titano, built between the 11th and 13th centuries. The path between the first two, called the "Witches' Path", runs through a rocky forest and is the very scene everyone photographs.

The historic core is a medieval labyrinth of stone alleys. Here is the church of Saint Francis, the oldest in the country, Liberty Square with the neo-Gothic Palazzo Pubblico where parliament sits, and a Statue of Liberty erected almost a decade before the one in New York. The neighbouring town of Borgo Maggiore is reached by a cable car that departs every 15 minutes.

And San Marino is more than stone and a view. The local perfumes are made from lavender, mint and rosemary from the region, the national dessert is the Three Mountains cake with layers of wafers and hazelnut-chocolate cream, and the Brugneto and Moscato wines are drunk where they are produced. For a Balkan traveller after something different from the usual metropolises, this pocket-sized state offers the most history per square metre in all of Europe.