San Marino installs Dalibor Riccardi and Francesca Civerchia as joint heads of state
*Event date: 2024-10-01*
San Marino swore in Dalibor Riccardi and Francesca Civerchia as its new Captains Regent, continuing the tiny republic’s centuries-old tradition of rotating heads of state every six months. The ceremony, described by San Marino RTV, mixed state ritual, public procession and diplomatic formality as the pair took over for the term running from 1 October 2024 to 1 April 2025.
The report says the two leaders assumed the supreme magistracy for the first time and succeeded Alessandro Rossi and Milena Gasperoni. In practical terms, that means San Marino again shifted from one dual head-of-state pair to another as part of a long-established constitutional system. The event was not a routine government handover in the modern executive sense; it was a ritualized institution at the center of Sammarinese identity.
The day began with a flag raising and the national anthem performed by the military band, then moved through a procession from Piazza della Libertà to Palazzo Valloni, where the new Captains Regent received the greetings of accredited diplomats. The report notes that Italy’s ambassador, Fabrizio Colaceci, attended for the first time as vice dean of the diplomatic corps. Later, the pair joined outgoing Captains Regent, visited the Basilica of the Saint for a solemn mass and returned to the palace for the central transfer of power.
The packet highlights the social tone of the new regency’s first address. Riccardi and Civerchia emphasized those they described as "the forgotten" and stressed equity and equal opportunity. The repeated message was that nobody should be left behind. That matters because it gives the ceremony a policy and moral frame rather than leaving it as purely symbolic pageantry.
San Marino’s institutions are small but durable, and this ceremony showed both qualities. A microstate can rely on formality, public memory and continuity in ways larger states often cannot. The dual captains regent system is one of the republic’s most distinctive features, and the handover on 1 October reinforced that institutional rhythm.
The evidence packet does not include policy plans, parliamentary disputes or diplomatic controversies tied to the new term. It does, however, document a full state ceremony and the arrival of two new leaders into a system designed to limit concentration of power. That is enough to show what happened on the day: a renewal of San Marino’s top office through tradition, public ritual and a six-month mandate.
