Geography of Vatican City
Encyclopedia
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
is unique due to the country's position as an urban, landlocked enclave
Enclave and exclave
In political geography, an enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally or politically attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous.These are two...
of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. With an area of 0.17 sq mi (0.4402979787 km²), it is the world's smallest independent state. Outside the Vatican City, thirteen buildings in Rome and Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope. It is an Italian town with the population of 8834...
(the pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
's summer residence) enjoy extraterritorial rights. (One building, the Paul VI Audience Hall
Paul VI Audience Hall
The Paul VI Audience Hall is a building in Rome, mostly in Italy but partially in Vatican City, but the Italian part of the building is an exterritorial area of the Holy See used by the Pope as an alternative to Saint Peter's Square for conducting his Wednesday morning General Audience...
, straddles the border, but its Italian portion has extraterritorial rights.) The country contains no major natural resources, and no known natural hazards other than those that affect Rome in general, such as earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s.
Climate
The city state has the same climate as Rome: temperate, mild, rainy winters (September to mid-May) with hot, dry summers (May to September).Terrain
Vatican City sits on a low hill. The hill has been called the Vatican HillVatican Hill
Vatican Hill is the name given, long before the founding of Christianity, to one of the hills on the side of the Tiber opposite the traditional seven hills of Rome...
(in Latin, Mons Vaticanus) since long before Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
existed. The name is suspected of belonging originally to the Etruscan language
Etruscan language
The Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization, in what is present-day Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna...
.
Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Vatican CityVatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
: the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location, as well as the highest and lowest points.
- North: at the intersection of the Viale Vaticano and the Via Leone IV (41°54′26.74"N 12°27′19.46"E)
- South: at the intersection of the Via della Stazione Vaticana and the Via di Porta Cavalleggeri (41°54′00.78"N 12°27′16.14"E)
- West: at the intersection of the Viale Vaticano and the Via Aurelia (41°54′07.08"N 12°26′44.62"E)
- East: easternmost edge of Saint Peter's SquareSaint Peter's SquareSaint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome .-History of St...
(41°54′08.16"N 12°27′30.01"E)
The lowest point in Vatican City is an unnamed location at 63 feet (19.2 m). The highest point is another unnamed location at 250 feet (76.2 m). The tallest building is St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
, at 452 feet (138 m).
Land use
The nature of the estate is fundamentally urban and none of the land is reserved for significant agriculture or other exploitation of natural resources. The city state displays an impressive degree of land economyLand economy
Land economy is the study of law, economics, and the environment. The University of Cambridge and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology are currently the only universities in the world offering such a degree at undergraduate level....
, born of necessity due to its extremely limited territory. Thus, the urban development (i.e., buildings) is optimized to occupy less than 50% of the total area, while the rest is reserved for open space, including the Vatican Gardens
Gardens of Vatican City
The Vatican Gardens in Vatican City are urban gardens and parks which cover more than half of the Vatican territory in the South and Northeast. There are some buildings such as Radio Vatican within the gardens....
. The territory holds many diverse structures that help provide autonomy for the sovereign state, including a rail line and train station, heliport, post office, radio station (with extraterritorial antennas in Italy), military barracks, government palaces and offices, public plaza, part of an audience hall, old defensive wall marking the border, institutions of higher learning, cultural/art centers, and a few embassies.
Environment
In July 2007, the Vatican accepted an offer that would make it the only carbon neutralCarbon neutral
Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference...
state for the year, due to the donation of the Vatican Climate Forest
Vatican Climate Forest
The Vatican Climate Forest, to be located in the Bükk National Park, Hungary, was donated to the Vatican City by a carbon offsetting company. The forest is to be sized to offset the carbon emissions generated by the Vatican during 2007...
in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. The forest was to be sized to offset the year's carbon dioxide emissions.
International agreements
- Party to: Ozone Layer Protection
- Signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution, Environmental Modification