Vatican City is encircled by a two-mile (3.2 km) border inside Rome, and yes, it is the ‘smallest country in the world’. It is also less than 100 years old, home to fewer than 1,000 people, and holds the ‘highest crime rate’ on the planet. Here are some facts that make Vatican City – the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and home of the Pope – endlessly fascinating. Also read | No red light, no green light, just hand signals: Thimphu is the only capital city on Earth that has no traffic lights at all
St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City contains the only work that was ever signed by Michelangelo: the sculpture Pieta. It is reportedly only one-eighth the size of New York City’s Central Park. You can only be made a citizen by appointment to work for the Holy See, and if you lose your Vatican citizenship, you automatically become Italian. The statistics get more contradictory. It has its own flag, postage stamps, and national anthem, and even maintains a national football team. If you spent just one minute looking at each artwork, it would take roughly four years to see them all. The Sistine Chapel sits at the heart of that labyrinth. Photography and video are not allowed inside, and visitors are asked to remain silent. It was built purposely atop St Peter’s bones. St Peter was crucified and buried directly under where the main altar of St Peter’s Basilica now stands, making the smallest country one of the most sacred places on earth.
Vatican City is the smallest country at roughly 100 acres, encircled by a two-mile border within Italy, according to a 2023 report by Passport.com. The report further noted Vatican City is less than 100 years old. It was established in 1929, when Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty. As of 2016, the report puts its population at only 840 residents, and 100 percent of the population is Catholic. As cited in Passport.com’s report, ’19 interesting facts about the world’s smallest country’, the Vatican Museums stretch over nine miles (14.4 km) and consist of 1,400 rooms, chapels, and galleries.
The report listed Vatican City as having the highest crime rate in the world, due to petty theft by tourists in St Peter’s Square, and as the only entire country designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Because he considered himself to be a sculptor, not a painter, the compilation noted that Michelangelo wanted nothing to do with painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Citizenship is where it gets truly unusual – according to the Passport.com report, you cannot be born a citizen of Vatican City. New popes are elected inside the Sistine Chapel, according to the same report. St Peter’s Basilica is located within Vatican City and is the largest church ever constructed, according to the compilation.
