To understand how small 61 km² really is, think of it this way: you could drive a car from one end of San Marino to the other in under 20 minutes. The country has about 34,000 people living in it — roughly the same number as a small market town. And yet it has everything a country needs: schools, hospitals, sports teams, and an international airport.
What makes San Marino extra unusual is that it is a landlocked country completely surrounded by one other country — Italy. There is no sea coast, no border with the ocean, and no other country touching it. To get to San Marino from the sea, you must first travel through Italy.
Being small does not mean being unimportant. San Marino has its own Olympic team and has sent athletes to the Olympic Games. It prints its own stamps and coins, which collectors love because they are rare. And of course, it has those three famous towers perched on a mountain that people travel from all over the world to visit.