Vatican City
The world's smallest country, sovereign seat of the Catholic Church
Vatican City is the smallest sovereign state in the world, an enclave of just 49 hectares within the city of Rome, yet its influence radiates across the globe as the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of the Pope. With a population of only about 800, almost all clergy, Swiss Guards, and officials, it is a country defined not by territory or people but by spiritual authority over more than a billion Catholics worldwide. Within its walls stand St Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and one of the greatest art collections ever assembled.
The state's tiny territory is almost entirely built up, comprising St Peter's Square and Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, the Vatican Museums, and the green Vatican Gardens that fill much of the remaining space. Its highest point, Vatican Hill, reaches a modest 75 meters. Surrounded on all sides by Rome, it has no agriculture, industry, or natural resources, and its finances rest on donations, museum admissions, the sale of stamps and coins, and investments. The Tiber river runs just beyond its walls.
The popes ruled extensive Papal States across central Italy for over a thousand years until Italian unification absorbed them in 1870. The dispute over the pope's status was resolved by the 1929 Lateran Treaty with Mussolini's government, which created the independent Vatican City State. An absolute elective monarchy with the Pope as sovereign, it issues its own euro coins, maintains the world's oldest standing army in the Swiss Guard, and through the Holy See conducts diplomacy with nations across the world.