Tourist information on the Vatican, what the City-State includes, the seat of the government of the Catholic Church presided over by the Pope, an itinerary to discover the main places of tourist and religious interest.
Vatican tourism
Located on the Vatican Hill, located west of Rome near the Tiber, Vatican City is the smallest state in the world.
Its jurisdiction includes Castel Gandolfo and thirteen buildings outside its borders, which benefit from extraterritorial status.
The Vatican has the seat of the government of the Catholic Church, in the form of an elected monarchy exercised by the Pope.
In the urbanized territory of the Vatican, two buildings stand out in particular, the Basilica of San Pietro and the Palazzo del Vaticano.
The first, built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, constitutes the largest temple of Catholicism.
In front of it is the monumental piazza of the same name.
In the Vatican Palace, comprising gardens and over a thousand rooms, there are the papal residence, the Sistine and Pauline Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and Lodges, the Vatican Library and the Museums.
Numerous artists collaborated in the construction of these buildings, including Raphael, Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Working in the territory of the Vatican State acquires Vatican citizenship.
The official languages are Italian and Latin.
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Although not part of the European Union, the Vatican is one of the states that issue the euro.
When the Lateran Pacts were signed in 1929, Vatican City began to function as an independent state, with the establishment of its own army, called the Swiss Guard, the issue of stamps, the creation of its own bank and a composed diplomatic corps from a hundred apostolic nuncios.
A Catholic pilgrimage center worldwide, the Vatican city state receives a huge flow of pilgrims converging on St. Peter's Square, a grandiose space surrounded in part by 284 columns and 140 statues, designed by Bernini in the seventeenth century.
At the end of the square stands the Basilica of San Pietro with its dome, created by Michelangelo, which reaches 132 meters in height, considered one of the greatest architectural wonders in the world.
Inside the building of worship there are remarkable works of art created by the major representatives of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque.
In the Vatican Museums and in every other corner of the tiny state it is possible to discover further masterpieces.
