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Location Information:
Vatican City officially the State of
the Vatican City (Italian: Stato
della Città del Vaticano) is a
landlocked sovereign city-state
whose territory consists of a walled
enclave within the city of Rome, the
capital city of Italy. It has an
area of approximately 44 hectares
(110 acres), and a population of
just over 800.
Vatican City was established in
1929. It is distinct from the Holy
See, which dates back to early
Christianity and is the main
episcopal see of 1.147 billion Latin
and Eastern Catholic adherents
around the globe. Ordinances of
Vatican City are published in
Italian; official documents of the
Holy See are issued mainly in Latin.
The two entities even have distinct
passports: the Holy See, not being a
country, only issues diplomatic and
service passports; the state of
Vatican City issues normal
passports. Very few passports are
issued by either authority.
Saint
Peter's Square (Italian: Piazza San
Pietro) is located directly in front
of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican
City, the papal enclave within Rome.
The open space which lies before the
basilica was redesigned by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini from 1656 to 1667,
under the direction of Pope
Alexander VII, as an appropriate
forecourt, designed "so that the
greatest number of people could see
the Pope give his blessing, either
from the middle of the façade of the
church or from a window in the
Vatican Palace" (Norwich 1975 p
175). Bernini had been working on
the interior of St. Peter's for
decades; now he gave order to the
space with his renowned colonnades,
using the Tuscan form of Doric, the
simplest order in the classical
vocabulary, not to compete with the
palace-like façade by Carlo Maderno,
but he employed it on an
unprecedented colossal scale to suit
the space and evoke emotions of awe.
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