Venture beyond the city’s ancient walls into Vatican City, home to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Glide through the Vatican Gardens and marvel at the artistic and spiritual treasures that define this sovereign city-state.

Vatican City officially the Vatican City State is a landlocked independent country, a microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and it is a distinct territory under “full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction” of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity under international law, which maintains the city-state’s temporal power and governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence.

With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and as of 2023 a population of about 764, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and by population. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Pope, who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church.