home
Vatican City
history & facts
Vatican City is is the smallest independent country in the world and is the governmental capital of the Catholic Church.
In 1929, under the premiership of Mussolini, the Vatican became officially an independent state.
The size of the Vatican is about 44 hectares and about 932 citizens live inside.
Besides St. Peter's Square, the entire state is walled.
The St Peter's Basilica, erected over the tomb of St Peter the Apostle, is the largest religious building in the world.
The Head of the Vatican is the Pope. The current Pope is Benedict XVI, born as Joseph Ratzinger.
location
Vatican City is a bit out of the center of Rome on the other side of the river.
Two metro stations are near the Vatican: Ottaviano and Cipro/Musei-Vaticani.
St. Peter's Square
Everybody can walk here; entrance from the public street. No clothes regulation.
There is free admission to Basilica. Stairs to the dome 3.50€; elevator to the dome 4€.
When we visited the St. Peter's Square, there was a long queue for the Basilica.
The Vatican Museums
Be prepared to wait a long time before you can enter the museum (picture to the right).
After having an early breakfast, we took the metro to Ottaviano station and queued at 8.12.
It took us 1.5 hour to get into the museum.
The line behind us grew rapidly; the waiting time for those people would be at least 2 hours.
Besides the waiting time, the temperature is in the afternoon much higher than in the morning.
Our visit to the Vatican was July 24, 2006. Admission was around €11.
clothes regulation
To enter the St Peter's Basilica, people must first pass a security control and behind it is the control of your clothes. Shorts or a short skirt are allowed but must be 'decent'. Not too short and certainly not transparent.
Control in the Vatican Museum seems less strictly. I saw a woman inside with very long hair wearing a sexy hot-pants. The majority of the men however had changed their shorts for long trousers.
other links
Ciampino Airport
Termini Central station
Colosseum
Piazza Navona
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps Colosseum