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Christian history. The Vatican Hill was included within the city limits of Rome during the reign of Pope Leo IV, who, between 848 and 852, expanded the city walls to protect St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican. Thus, Vatican Hill has been within the walls and city limits of Rome for over 1100 years. Until the Lateran Treaties in 1929 it was ...
- Colle Vaticano
- Circus of Nero
- Mons Vaticanus
- Borgo
Aug 4, 2015 · The Vatican remains the home of the pope and the Roman Curia, and the spiritual center for some 1.2 billion followers of the Catholic Church. The world’s smallest independent nation-state, it ...
- 2 min
Dec 16, 2023 · December 16, 2023. The Vatican Hill, an emblem of religious significance and an architectural marvel, has witnessed a remarkable transformation through the centuries. Its evolution from a Roman necropolis and the Circus of Caligula to the majestic St. Peter's Basilica is a tale that intertwines history, religion, and art.
- Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. Encircled by a 2-mile border with Italy, Vatican City is an independent city-state that covers just over 100 acres, making it one-eighth the size of New York’s Central Park.
- St. Peter’s Basilica sits atop a city of the dead, including its namesake’s tomb. A Roman necropolis stood on Vatican Hill in pagan times. When a great fire leveled much of Rome in A.D.
- Caligula captured the obelisk that stands in St. Peter’s Square. Roman Emperor Caligula built a small circus in his mother’s gardens at the base of Vatican Hill where charioteers trained and where Nero is thought to have martyred the Christians.
- For nearly 60 years in the 1800s and 1900s, popes refused to leave the Vatican. Popes ruled over a collection of sovereign Papal States throughout central Italy until the country was unified in 1870.
1 day ago · Vatican City, landlocked ecclesiastical state, seat of the Roman Catholic Church, and an enclave in Rome, situated on the west bank of the Tiber River. Vatican City is the world’s smallest fully independent nation-state. Its medieval and Renaissance walls form its boundaries except on the southeast at St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro).
Brief synthesis. One of the most sacred places in Christendom, Vatican City stands as a testimony to a history of about two millennia and to a formidable spiritual venture.
