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The Vatican City (Status Civitatis Vaticanæ) is a independent European state place under the authority of the Pontiff of the Catholic Church, that practices the powers of an absolute monarch, even if the principal actions of government are developed by the Secretary of State. |
With a surface of 0,44 square kms, inserted inside the urban zone in Rome on the right shore of Tevere, the Vatican is the smallest independent state in the world, in terms of number of habitants and territorial extension. |
The independence of Vatican was recognized by the Italian government on February 11, 1929 with the stipulates between First Minister of the Kingdom of Italy Benito Mussolini and the Secretary of Vatican State Card. Gasparri, in the “Patti Lateranensi” that put an end to the contentious between Church and State to the Roman matter opened in 1870 with the annexation of the Pontifical State to the new Kingdom of Italy. |
Heart of the Vatican City is Saint Peter’s Square, in which the homonym basilica is risen, with the dome lovely for the Romans as also for the visitors that came from all over the world. |
Inside the medieval and Renaissance walls that surround, except Saint Peter’s Square, the whole area on which the small state rises, the Building of the Governorship and the Vatican Gardens also found. |
Territorial sovereignty is practiced on the whole territory of the Vatican City, while on numerous buildings and areas inside and next to Rome, the Holy See - but not the State of the Vatican City - enjoys the privilege of extraterritoriality. The St. Peter’s square, although under the Vatican sovereignty, is submitted to the powers of the Italian Police. |
From the IV century, Rome became center of pilgrimage giving an increasing organization to the reception for the people that arrived in the city. Already in the VII century, the monks of Cluny developed the pilgrimage toward Rome, compiling the first" tourist guides" and signalling special itineraries. In 1300 the Pope Boniface VIII went to St. Peter to promulgate to everybody the indulgence, giving origin to the jubilee. This way this manifestation developed, and become by the 1475 each 25 years. It was begun so, the tradition of the reception of pilgrims in religious institutes in Rome. |
In the actuality, the Vatican City keeps on being a favorite destination of pilgrims and tourists, staying to all the effects the most famous parts in the pontifical buildings, the Sistine Chapel with the frescos of Michelangelo, the rooms and the Vatican loggias and the papal apartments, elegantly paintings by Rafael. |
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