Vatican City: What It Is, Where It Is and How Big It Is

Yes, the Vatican is a country: the State of Vatican City has been a sovereign state since 1929 and is the smallest in the world, with 0.44 km² and 882 residents. It is an enclave inside Rome, on the right bank of the Tiber, surrounded by Italy. Its head of state is the Pope, currently Leo XIV. For travelers, Vatican City mainly means St Peter’s Basilica, its square and the Vatican Museums with the Sistine Chapel. If you are after a visit plan, start with visiting the Vatican.

Is the Vatican a country?

Yes. The State of Vatican City was born on 11 February 1929 with the Lateran Pacts, signed by Cardinal Pietro Gasparri on behalf of Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III. Italy recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Holy See and the new state was created. Since 1870, when Italy took Rome, the Pope had had no territory of his own.

It helps to tell apart two names that are used as if they were the same:

• Vatican City is the state: the territory, its laws and its services.
• The Holy See is the institution that leads the Catholic Church. It is the Holy See, not the state, that maintains diplomatic relations with other countries.

Its form of government is a theocracy organized as an elective monarchy. The Pope is the sovereign and holds legislative, executive and judicial power. He delegates day-to-day government to the Presidency of the Governorate. When a pope dies or resigns, the College of Cardinals elects his successor in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel. The latest, on 8 May 2025, elected Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name Leo XIV.

Where is the Vatican?

It is inside Rome, on the right bank of the Tiber, on a rise that was part of the ancient Vatican hills. The state takes its name from that hill.

The territory is partly enclosed by walls. On the St Peter’s Square side, the border is a strip of marble in the pavement joining the two ends of the colonnade. The square is part of the Vatican, but you can normally walk in freely and it is patrolled by the Italian police. The rest of the state is reached through five entrances, guarded by the Swiss Guard and the Vatican Gendarmerie.

The Vatican Museums entrance is on Viale Vaticano, near Piazza del Risorgimento. The nearest metro stops are Ottaviano and Cipro, on line A. We explain it step by step in how to get to the Vatican.

Outside that enclosure, the Holy See owns buildings in Rome and in Italy with extraterritorial rights. Among them are the basilicas of St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul Outside the Walls, and the palace of Castel Gandolfo.

How big is Vatican City?

The territory measures 0.44 km², that is, 44 hectares. To give you an idea:

• St Peter’s Basilica covers about 7 % of the area, and the basilica and square together about 20 %.
• The Vatican Gardens cover about 22 hectares, roughly half the country.
• The whole site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. It is the only case in which the listing covers an entire state.

If you are looking for a Vatican City map for your visit, the Vatican Museums publish a downloadable map of the route on their official website.

What is the Vatican’s population?

According to the state’s official figures, updated to 31 December 2024:

Figure	Number
Residents of the state (citizens and non-citizens)	882
Vatican citizens	673
Citizens living inside the state	458
Of whom, members of the Swiss Guard	120
Cardinals with Vatican citizenship	66 (10 live in the state)

About 30 % of citizens live abroad, mostly diplomatic staff. Vatican citizenship is not inherited at birth: it is granted for the role a person holds and lost when they stop holding it. Living in the Vatican are the Pope, cardinals with posts, priests, monks and nuns, the Swiss Guards and some lay people who work for the state, with their families.

What language is spoken in the Vatican?

The most widely spoken language is Italian. Latin is the official language of the Holy See: the state’s official Latin name is Status Civitatis Vaticanæ. The currency is the euro, with Vatican coins of its own minted in Italy; we cover them in Vatican coins and stamps.

What can you visit in the Vatican?

Place	What it is	Ticket?
St Peter’s Square	Bernini’s square with the obelisk	Free
St Peter’s Basilica	The main church, with the Pietà and the baldachin	No admission charge; security check
St Peter’s dome	Climb to the top of Michelangelo’s dome	17 € by the stairs, 22 € with the elevator
Vatican Grottoes	Tombs of popes under the basilica	Open to basilica visitors
Necropolis (Scavi)	Roman cemetery and tomb of St Peter	By booking on the basilica’s website
Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel	One ticket for both	20 € at the ticket office, 20 € + 5 € online
Vatican Gardens	Only on an organized visit	Official Museums online shop

If you want to see the Pope, tickets for the general audiences and celebrations are always free; we explain it in the papal audience guide. And to find out who has guarded all this since 1506, read the guide to the Swiss Guard.

Vatican City quick facts

Official name	State of Vatican City
Area	0.44 km² (44 ha)
Residents	882 (31 December 2024)
Head of state	The Pope (Leo XIV since 2025)
Founded	11 February 1929, Lateran Pacts
Languages	Italian (most widely spoken); Latin (official language of the Holy See)
Currency	Euro
World Heritage Site	Since 1984

To learn how a Roman circus became this state, carry on with the history of the Vatican.