The Tiny Country Inside Rome

Vatican City became an independent state on February 11, 1929, with the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Mussolini's government. The treaty resolved the so-called "Roman Question" that had festered since Italian troops seized Rome from the Pope in 1870. The new country carved 0.49 km² out of the Italian capital and handed it to the papacy. It remains the smallest internationally recognized sovereign state on Earth.

The territory is bizarre. Its population is around 900, most of whom are clergy; citizenship is tied to Vatican employment and lapses when the job does. It issues its own passports, license plates (starting SCV), and euro coins distinct from Italy's. Its official languages are Italian and Latin, and the Vatican's ATM is apparently the only one in the world that offers a Latin interface.

The Swiss Guard, founded by Pope Julius II in 1506, still provides the bodyguard. The corps is restricted to about 135 single Catholic Swiss men between 19 and 30, at least 174 cm tall, who commit to a minimum of two years. Their uniform of blue, red, and yellow stripes was long attributed to Michelangelo; modern costume historians date it to a 1914 redesign by then-commandant Jules Repond, who admired Renaissance paintings.

The Vatican is also extraterritorial in oddly practical ways. It has no income tax, no hospital, no airport (its helipad is for the Pope), and no prison — convicted offenders serve Italian sentences in Italian facilities under a bilateral agreement. The country's main export is tourism, and its most-visited attraction, the Sistine Chapel, was finished in 1482.