Vatican City
Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, small enough that you could fit around 800 of them inside Manhattan.
- Area0.49 km2The smallest country in the world
- PopulationAround 800Mostly clergy and Swiss Guards
- Founded1929By the Lateran Treaty with Italy
- Head of stateThe PopeAn elected absolute monarch
Vatican City is a walled enclave inside Rome, and it is the smallest country in the world by both area and population. It exists so that the Pope, as head of the Catholic Church, is not a subject of any other government.
Almost the whole country is one complex: Saint Peter's Basilica, Saint Peter's Square, the Apostolic Palace, the Vatican Museums and the gardens. The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is inside it.
National symbols
- National colours Yellow and white
- National anthem Inno e Marcia Pontificale (Translation: Pontifical Hymn and March)
- Emblem Crossed keys of Saint Peter under the papal tiara
- Guard Pontifical Swiss Guard, founded 1506
Map of Vatican City
Geography
Vatican City covers 0.49 km2 and is entirely surrounded by the city of Rome, so its only border is with Italy. Its walls run for around 3.2 km.
The land is a low hill, the Vatican Hill, west of the Tiber. Around half the territory is taken up by the Vatican Gardens. There are no natural features of note: this is a country consisting almost entirely of buildings and gardens.
Climate
Vatican City shares Rome's Mediterranean climate: hot dry summers often above 30C and mild wet winters that rarely fall below 3C.
Rain falls mostly between October and December. Summer in Rome is hot enough that the Pope traditionally moved to the cooler hilltop residence at Castel Gandolfo, outside the city.
Culture
Italian is the everyday language and Latin remains the official language of the Holy See, used for formal documents. The Swiss Guard use German for commands.
Everybody living here is Catholic, and the country exists to serve the Church. Citizenship is granted for the duration of a person's job rather than by birth, so it is the only country whose population is almost entirely temporary residents.
Economy
The Vatican has no ordinary economy: no farming, no industry and no tax system. It is funded by donations from Catholics worldwide, known as Peter's Pence.
The Vatican Museums bring in substantial income from around 5 to 6 million visitors a year, and the sale of postage stamps, coins and publications adds to it.
The flag
A yellow band beside a white band, one of only two square national flags in the world, along with Switzerland's.
On the white half sit the crossed keys of Saint Peter, one gold and one silver, beneath the three-tiered papal tiara. The keys refer to the Bible passage where Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the gold and silver stand for spiritual and earthly authority.