# San Marino Installs Matteo Rossi and Lorenzo Bugli as Captains Regent
*Event date: 2025-10-01*
By IO Digest Desk
San Marino has sworn in Matteo Rossi and Lorenzo Bugli as its new Captains Regent, beginning the small republic’s next six-month cycle under one of Europe’s oldest systems of shared executive authority and using the occasion to project a message of democratic continuity, openness and strategic engagement with the European Union.
According to San Marino RTV, the solemn installation ceremony opened with a flag-raising in Piazza della Libertà accompanied by the national anthem performed by the Military Band. From there, military corps moved in procession to Palazzo Valloni, where the newly elected Captains Regent received the homage of accredited diplomatic representatives before proceeding through the formal steps of the handover.
The office carries unusual institutional weight in San Marino. The two Captains Regent serve jointly as heads of state for a limited six-month term, a system designed to disperse authority and prevent the concentration of power. Rossi and Bugli assumed the high mandate for the semester running from October 1, 2025 to April 1, 2026. San Marino RTV reported that both men rose to the supreme magistracy for the first time.
In their entrance address, the pair emphasized democracy and tolerance as core values of the Sammarinese community. The speech, as summarized by the broadcaster, also highlighted young people and their central role in the republic’s future, while acknowledging the importance of Sammarinese communities living abroad. That framing placed civic identity, generational renewal and diaspora ties at the center of the new regency’s public message.
The address also gave significant space to San Marino’s proposed association agreement with the European Union, describing it as an epochal choice that could strengthen both sovereignty and development. That formulation is politically notable. In microstates, closer integration with larger European structures can raise concerns about autonomy. Presenting the agreement as a reinforcement of sovereignty rather than a trade-off suggests that the new regents want the public to see European integration as compatible with San Marino’s institutional distinctiveness.
The ceremonial path then took the regential procession through the historic center to the Palazzo Pubblico, where Rossi and Bugli met the outgoing Captains Regent, Denise Bronzetti and Italo Righi. The two pairs then went together to the Basilica del Santo for a solemn Mass celebrated by the Bishop of San Marino-Montefeltro, Monsignor Domenico Beneventi, before returning to the palace for the culminating transfer of powers.
San Marino RTV said the formal oration was delivered by European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, introduced by Foreign Secretary Luca Beccari. Šefčovič underscored San Marino’s democratic and historical value within the broader European family and again pointed to the future EU-San Marino association accord as a vehicle for access to the European internal market, new opportunities for citizens and businesses, legal certainty and closer cooperation, all while respecting Sammarinese sovereignty.
The ceremony concluded with the oath, including the Latin formula read by Interior Secretary Andrea Belluzzi, followed by the exchange of the collar of Grand Master of San Marino. The dense symbolism mattered because the republic’s legitimacy rests heavily on ritual continuity as well as constitutional design. In a state of San Marino’s size, ceremony is not just pageantry. It is an expression of institutional durability.
The incoming regency also reaffirmed San Marino’s commitment to peace, dialogue and support for vulnerable groups, from elderly people to young people and families. Those themes, combined with the focus on rights and openness, suggest that Rossi and Bugli intend to present their short term not merely as custodial but as a bridge between republican tradition and current strategic choices.
For San Marino, the transition was routine in procedure but significant in message: stability at home, continuity in institutions and a deliberate turn toward a deeper place inside the European civic and economic framework.
