The Vatican City State is the official residence of the pope and a country within Rome. It lies on a low hill, the Mons Vaticanus of ancient Rome, at the north-east of the city of Rome and has a total area of 0.438 km2, making it the smallest independent country in the world. The climate is temperate; mild, rainy winters from September to mid-May with hot, dry summers from May to September. The terrain is low hill. It has no natural resources. The religion is Roman Catholic. The language is Italian, Latin, and various other languages. The Vatican City became recognised as an independent state in 1929. Since 1870 the pope has always resided here, and has regarded himself as a prisoner.
Pope Symmachus built a house here about 500, which was rebuilt about 1200, but the Lateran palace was the usual papal residence until the popes moved to Avignon. Gregory XI, who restored the papal seat to Rome in 1377, made the Vatican his permanent residence, though later popes often lived in the Quirinal. The existing buildings of the Vatican were begun about 1450 by Nicholas V, who reconstructed the older palace on a grand scale. Additions were made by later popes, the last important building, the Braccio Nuovo, having been erected under Pius VII. The Vatican is said to contain about 7,000 rooms.
The Borgia apartments, begun by Nicholas V and finished by Alexander VI, were the scene of the latter pope's murder by poison. Some of the rooms were decorated by Pinturicchio, and others by Perugsno and Sodoma. Four entire rooms, today known as the Stanze di Raffaello, were decorated by that artist. After the fall of the hated Borgias the Pinturicchio frescoes remained neglected and covered up until their restoration in 1890-1987. Research Vatican City
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