Vatican City

THE VATICAN CITY
Vatican City in Rome is the smallest independent nation state in the world in terms of area and population. This European micro state is situated several hundred meters west of the Tiber river on Vatican Hill in the north western part of Rome. The city borders of 3.2km closely follow the city wall constructed to protect the Pope from outside attack.

It is suggested that this originally uninhabited part of Rome had always been considered sacred. In 326 the first church, Constantine's basilica, was built over the site of the tomb of Saint Peter. Since then the area started to become more populated, but mostly only by dwelling houses connected with the activity of St Peters.

The Head of State is the Pope, who as the supreme executive, legislative, and as judicial authority is also the Head of Government. The Pope has legislative, executive and judicial power not only over Vatican City State but also constituting the Holy See. The sovereign is elected for a life term in conclave by cardinals under the age of eighty. The Popes principal government officials are the Secretary of State, the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and the Governor of Vatican City.

Popes in their secular role gradually came to govern neighbouring regions. Through the Papal States they ruled a large portion of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years. This was until the mid nineteenth century, when most of the territory of the Papal States was seized by the newly created Kingdom of Italy. For much of this time the Popes did not reside at the Vatican, they resided at the Lateran Palace and in recent centuries at the Quirinal Palace.

The Vatican City climate is mostly the same as Romes. It has a temperate, Mediterranean climate with rainy winters in the months of September to mid May and hot, dry summers in the months May to August. There are some local features to Vatican City, mainly mists and dews, caused by the anomalous bulk of St Peters Basilica, the elevation, the fountains and the size of the large paved square.