Vatican — map and facts

About Vatican City

Vatican City is the world's smallest internationally recognised sovereign state, covering just 0.44 square kilometres within the city of Rome, with a resident population of approximately 800. It is the seat of the Catholic Church and the residence of the Pope, who serves as its head of state. Vatican City was established as an independent state by the Lateran Treaty signed between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy on 11 February 1929. The state is an elective monarchy — the Pope is elected for life by the College of Cardinals. Vatican City is not a UN member state but holds permanent observer status. It has its own postal service, radio station (Radio Vaticana), daily newspaper (L'Osservatore Romano), and gendarmerie. The official languages are Latin and Italian; Italian is used in daily administration.

Geography and Landscape

Vatican City is an enclave entirely within Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber River. Its boundaries are largely defined by the walls built to protect the papacy, along with open spaces on the south side. The territory includes St Peter's Square (technically an extraterritorial space), St Peter's Basilica — the world's largest church — the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Gardens, which cover about half the territory. There are no natural geographic features of significance; the land is flat urban terrain. The climate is Mediterranean, identical to Rome's, with hot, dry summers and mild, wetter winters.

History

The area of the Vatican Hill (Mons Vaticanus) was on the right bank of the Tiber, outside the ancient city of Rome, and used as gardens and burial grounds. The Apostle Peter is believed to have been martyred and buried here in the first century AD; Constantine the Great built a basilica over his tomb in the fourth century. The papacy gradually accumulated temporal power in central Italy, creating the Papal States, which lasted from the eighth century until 1870, when Italian unification forces seized Rome. The Pope retreated to the Vatican and refused to recognise the Italian state. The 1929 Lateran Treaty resolved the "Roman Question" by creating Vatican City as an independent state, in exchange for the Holy See recognising Italy. The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) under Pope John XXIII modernised the Catholic Church profoundly.