The smallest country on Earth, and the seat of the Roman Catholic Church which is the epicenter for over 1.2 billion spiritual followers, Vatican City is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site to include an entire country.
Over 6 million people visit Vatican City annually, including the Vatican Museums to behold the creations of some of the most influential artists of all time including Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso.
The country Vatican City, officially called the Vatican City State, is situated within the city of Rome, and is the only country situated within another city. It’s also the only country in the world that can be walked in under an hour since it’s only the size of 60 soccer fields.
ITINERARY
St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro)
St Peter’s Basilica
The Pope
Vatican Museums
The Sistine Chapel
This theocracy with its entire population comprised of Christians has less than 1,000 citizens, by design. There are no hospitals in the country, so the birth rate is zero, making it nearly impossible for anyone to become a citizen by birth. Instead, citizenship is granted to officials who serve the Pope, and is temporary, ending once the service ends.
After crossing the Tiber River from Rome you’ll shortly enter St. Peter’s Square.
St Peter’s Square can hold over 300,000 people making it one of the largest public squares in the world. It was designed by the Italian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who is credited with creating the Baroque style and who is regarded as the greatest sculptor of the 17th century.
The square contains 284 columns with 140 statues of saints towering above that were created hundreds of years ago in 1670.
Standing in the center of the square is a massive obelisk that was carried to Rome from Egypt in 1586.
Also in the square stands stunning St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest Catholic Church in the world, built over the grave of Saint Peter, who according to Christian teachings holds the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Although the Vatican is home to less than 1,000 residents, it has the highest crime rate per capita in the world due to crimes committed by the millions of tourists that visit. The majority of the crimes committed are shoplifting and pickpocketing, so be alert.
The Apostolic Palace pictured below is located next to St. Peter’s Basilica and is where the Pope gives his Papal blessing on Sundays from the top floor window to the thousands gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.
The Apostolic Palace is the official residence of the Pope, although Pope Francis has chosen not to live there.
St. Peter’s Basilica was named after one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ who is regarded as the 1st Pope, and was sentenced to death by crucifixion by the Roman Emperor Nero. The current Basilica can hold 20,000 people and was designed by some of the most renowned architects from the 15th & 16th centuries, replacing the original one built in 326 AD over the tomb of Saint Peter.
This dome is the tallest in the world and was designed by Michelangelo and finished by others in 1614, and has inspired many other structures including the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The façade of the Basilica actually stands on its own without the support of the building as it was built independently.
St. Peter’s Dome is 447 feet tall and is large enough to fit a 15 story building inside or the Statue of Liberty.
The shimmering walls of the central nave are inscribed with teachings from Christianity along with almost 40 statues of religious figures.
The opulent interior contains numerous magnificent works of art, and for scale, the letters are close to 10 feet tall, making it difficult to grasp the sheer size of this glorious Basilica even while standing within and peering upward.
The bronze ornate Holy Door is located in the Atrium, and only opens once every 25 years by the Pope.
Larger than most churches anywhere in the world, 25 Altars are located within St. Peter’s, including the sacred Papal Altar built over the tomb of St. Peter, also known as the High Altar.
This massive bronze and gold structure designed by Bernini was completed in 1633 and is made up of 4 columns brought in from Jerusalem with the bronze and gold donated by King Henry IV of France.
St. Peter’s Chair is a sacred relic inside the Basilica dating back to the 1st century, which is believed to be a chair used by the Apostle. The angels are holding St. Peter’s Keys and Bernini created the illusion that the chair is suspended in the air.
The golden glass window is decorated with angels and at the center a dove symbolizing the holy spirit, along with a division into 12 panels paying tribute to the Twelve Apostles.
The most famous of the 25 chapels in the Basilica is the Chapel of the Pieta, which has what is considered one of Michelangelo’s earliest and most outstanding pieces and was the only work to carry his signature. Sculpted from a single piece of Carrara marble by the artist when he was only 24, it depicts human suffering as the Virgin Mary grieves over the dead body of Jesus Christ in her arms. Pieta translates to “Pity”.
After a visit inside St. Peter’s Basilica, head outside where people are gathering to watch the Pope speak.
Almost every Wednesday when the Pope is in Rome, he speaks to the crowd followed by prayers and concluding with a blessing of religious articles, so be sure to pick up some items from the shops lining the square to be blessed.
The Holy See is the name given to the Roman Catholic Church’s government, which is led by the Pope. He arrived via a small vehicle which parades through the crowd before he takes the stage.
We saw Pope Benedict XVI who is the oldest to become Pope since Clement XII in 1730. He is also the first pope to “retire” by his own accord since Celestine in 1294 and is the longest living pope on record.
The Pope has absolute executive, legislative, and judicial powers within the country.
After the parade, the Pope takes the stage under the security of the Swiss Guards.
The Swiss Guards are responsible for protecting the Pope and have been hired since 1506 to protect the Pope from any enemies of the Church, which were constantly under significant threats 500 years ago when Christians were the most persecuted religious group.
Easily recognizable in their colorful striped uniforms, one has to be a Christian male between 19-30 years old, at least 5’ 8’’ tall, and have undergone military training.
The Pope speaks in Italian to the Papal Audience.
There are screens projecting the Pope in the square, and afterwards head over to the Vatican Museums around the corner.
The extensive Vatican Museums house some of the most artistically significant rooms in the world, and contain over 1,400 rooms with treasured works of art dating back over 3,000 years making it the 5th largest museum in the world.
Lines to enter are the longest in Rome, so avoid them by booking a tour that will bypass the lines and is without a doubt the most rewarding way to experience the Vatican Museums.
The knowledgeable guide will ensure you see the major highlights and explain their fascinating history, such as the Gallery of Maps, a 400 foot long gallery with vaulted ceilings lined with painted maps of Italy by geographer Ignazio Danti.
Many of these frescos represent the Italian regions and the possessions of the Church.
The famous Raphael Rooms contain his frescoes, a master painter and architect of the Italian High Renaissance who was commissioned to design the Pope’s apartment suites.
“The School of Athens” fresco below that made Raphael famous represents the most notable philosophers of ancient times with Plato in the center with his finger pointing upwards, flanked by Aristotle. Pythagoras is in the foreground and Diogenes is lying on the stairs, while Heracleitus is leaning against the block of marble writing on a sheet of paper. Euclid is on the right teaching geometry to students and Zoroaster is holding the heavenly sphere, while Ptolemy holding the earthly sphere.
The grand finale of the Vatican Museums is the Sistine Chapel, where since 1492 cardinals have assembled to elect a new pope. The inside was painted by Michelangelo, considered one of the greatest artists of all time.
Regarded as Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel contains one of the world’s most famous and most widely replicated images called “The Creation of Adam,” where God and Adam reach for each other with their almost touching fingers representing the story from Genesis in which God gives life to Adam.
The 9 stories of Genesis are painted on the walls and located over the high altar is his other masterpiece, The Final Judgment. The painted figures began small at the top where he started, and got larger toward the bottom as the artist realized his undertaking. The guide will point out where Michelangelo painted his enemy in the corner of the last Judgement.
Vatican City may be the smallest country on Earth, but is arguably one of the most magnificent. Go.
