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Flexible TravelEverybody has heard of the Vatican. It’s the world’s smallest country, home of the Pope - the epicentre of the Christian world, built upon the tomb of Saint Peter the Apostle. Spanning just 44 hectares, Vatican City is densely packed with millennia of art and architecture, from the almost 4,000-year-old Egyptian obelisk in Saint Peter’s Square to Michelangelo’s masterful 16th-century frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Visit the Vatican only once and you’ll barely scratch the surface. Beyond the tourist attractions of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica exists a thriving close-knit community, complete with its own codes, customs, and traditions. We’ve written this article brimming with fun facts about the Vatican to equip you with all the knowledge you need to make the most of your next trip!
During the Roman Republic, this area on the left bank of the River Tiber was known as Ager vaticanus (the Vatican Field). Its name may have derived from the Latin verb vaticinor which meant to prophesy or foretell, suggesting that this was the area where prophets or soothsayers (vates, in Latin) would issue their prophecies.
Detail of the Vatican Hill from the Flemish Tapestry, Act of the Apostles (1519)
The Roman writer Varro tells us that the area derived its name from the childbirth god Vaticanus who opened the mouths of newborns and whose voice was heard on this hill.
The rationale behind this was that the cry of a newborn baby ('wah-wah') sounded the first syllable of the god’s name (‘va’). In fact, in archaic Latin ‘V’ was pronounced ‘W’, (i.e. ‘wah-wah’). And so it makes perfect sense that the Romans attributed a baby's first babbling to the god Vaticanus.
The final theory is that the word Vatican is Etruscan in origin and was the name of a settlement in the area (even though no trace of this settlement has been found).
Burial within ancient Rome’s city walls was forbidden—except if you were a Caesar, then you could do what you wanted! Because the city had such a large, densely packed population (one million by the turn of the 1st century), there was the very real possibility of disease resulting from proximity to the corpses. That’s why the Romans built catacombs or necropolises, or 'cities of the dead' outside the city walls - to separate the realms of the living and the dead.
But if you were to go back in time and walk along the ancient Via Cornelia and Vatican Hill, you'd find another necropolis. This now underlies Saint Peter’s Basilica and can be visited only on rare occasions by booking directly through the Vatican.
Cross section of the Vatican Necropolis in relation to Saint Peter's Basilica (left) and detail from a 2nd-3rd century AD mosaic in the Vatican necropolis. The mosaic depicts Bacchus, the god of wine, festival, and madness and the patron god of our Tispy Tour.
You wouldn’t know it, but situated beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square is an enormous chariot-racing track built during the reigns of Caligula and Nero (30s - 50s AD). The image below shows the layout of the track in relation to Rome’s modern topography. The obelisk that stood in the middle (more on this later) was the same one that stands here today.
Caligula’s Circus beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square
It was here in the circus that the first state-sponsored martyrdoms of Rome’s Christians took place following the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Saint Peter was executed here in the circus inter duas metas (between the two turning points on the track's central barrier).
One of the best-known facts about the Vatican is that Peter was crucified upside-down to avoid imitating Christ. Visit the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome and you'll see a work of Caravaggio depicting Peter's crucifixion.
Caravaggio, Cruifixion of St Peter (1600). Note that the site of his execution is ambiguous as the focus is entirely on Peter in the foreground.
Church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Wikimedia Commons
In 37 AD, the unhinged emperor Caligula had a 2,000-year-old obelisk shipped from Heliopolis in Egypt to adorn the central barrier of his chariot racing track (the absolute madman). This is the very same (now 4000-year-old) obelisk you still see before you today, and as you can appreciate the emperor had to have a ship built especially for the task of transporting it.
Caligula’s mammoth undertaking is even inscribed in Latin on the obelisk itself.
Reconstruction of the Caligula’s Circus in the Vatican.
We know from the first-century poet Martial that the area around the Vatican produced some of the worst wines of antiquity. ‘Drink Vatican wine and you’re drinking venom’, Martial wrote, presumably speaking from head-pounding personal experience.
Martial also calls out the presumably commonplace practice of mixing fine Falernian wine with Vatican vintage, brutally concluding that ‘your dinner guests might deserve it, but such a pricey jug [as Falernian] did not deserve to die.’
Detail of a mosaic in the House of Theseus in Cyprus. Photo credit: Daily Mail
Indulge in Real Roman Wine on our Tipsy Tour!
Rome's most famous historian, Tacitus, tells us that the Vatican was a fetid, disease-ridden area even after Caligula and Nero had built their circuses there. In the year 69, known as the Year of the Four Emperors, Rome was in the grip of a civil war fought between... you guessed it - four dynastic families. When the third of these short-lived emperors, Vitellius, arrived in Rome from Germany, he camped his army on the northern bank of the River Tiber in the area that is now the Vatican.
Tacitus tells us that camping in this district and consuming its water resulted in many deaths among the army. Because it was so hot, Vitellius' soldiers drank greedily from the river water, weakening their already fragile constitutions. We can guess that they died from dysentery - hardly surprising given that Rome's relatively advanced sewage system pumped directly into the River Tiber. Nice...
Saint Peter’s Basilica is the most recognisable basilica in the Vatican, if not the world. But the basilica you see today dates from 1506 - 1626. Before this, the site was occupied by a fourth-century basilica, now known as Old Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Built in the 4th century, under the orders of Rome’s first Christian emperor Constantine, Old Saint Peter's Basilica stood above the resting place of Saint Peter the Apostle. Construction finished in 324, and the coming centuries saw a bustling neighbourhood (borgo) spring up around this place of pilgrimage.
Nothing remains of Constantine's original basilica today. But you can see it in the background of Raphael’s fresco The Fire in the Borgo.
Raphael’s Fire in the Borgo in the Vatican Museums
Also worth noting is the muscular figure of Rome's proto-founder Aeneas on the left, carrying his father, Anchises, who for some reason resembles a ripped Father Christmas.
Aye, you read that right. Not by hook-handed, wooden-legged, Muppets Treasure Island-type pirates, mind, but by significantly scarier Saracen pirates from the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia.
Before this point, raiding the city of Rome had been a distinctly European occupation. First it was the Gauls who plundered the city, then the Goths, and then the Vandals. Then in 846, a devil-may-care posse of Arab raiders sailed over to Italy, disembarked their ships, and stole these European jobs.
First, they plundered the port city of Ostia before advancing on Rome’s Aurelian Walls. There’s no evidence to suggest they tried to force their way into the city. But we do know that they plundered Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s Basilica outside the walls, looting treasures including a golden cross and smashing Saint Peter’s tomb.
The Leonine City walls encompassed much of today’s Vatican area
Pope Leo’s IV response to these Arab incursions was to build a wall to protect Saint Peter’s. Completed in 852, it encircled what is known as the Leonine City, the area we currently associate with the Vatican. A little late you’ll agree, but better late than never…
One of the most surprising facts about the Vatican is that between the 4th and the 14th centuries the popes did not reside in the Vatican, but in the Lateran Palace beside the Basilica of Saint John in Lateran. Constantine the Great came into possession of the territory by marrying the sister of his defeated rival, Maxentius (a smart move, you’ll agree), constructing the basilica beside it and gifting this residence to the popes.
Popes Hadrian I, Innocent III, and Boniface VIII invested heavily in its restoration between the 9th and 14th centuries. But when the popes departed from Rome to set up shop in Avignon in 1309 the Lateran Palace fell into disrepair.
The Lateran Palace (right) was the original residence of Rome’s popes
Following their 67-year-long sabbatical in France, the Popes moved back to Rome. They first established their headquarters in Santa Maria in Trastevere and Santa Maria Maggiore before finally fixing their residence in Saint Peter’s.
A lot of restoration work was needed before they could live among the luxury they’re accustomed to today. Decades of neglect had seen the Lateran Palace burn to the ground, wolves digging up bodies in the Vatican’s cemetery and cows wandering in and out of the basilica.
Okay, so technically this took place in the Vatican-owned Basilica of Saint John in Lateran, not in the Vatican itself. But the fact remains that in 897 AD, Pope Formosus, who had shuffled off his mortal coil seven months prior, was tried — and found guilty — by his successor Pope Stephen VI.
Jean-Paul Laurens, Le Pape Formose et Étienne VII (“Pope Formosus and Stephen VII”), 1870
It goes without saying that these weren't normal times. The 9th and 10th centuries were times of such serious corruption, decadence, and political instability resulting in a high turnaround of both popes and princes that the period has come to be known in some academic circles as the Pornocracy.
Pope Formosus' predecessor, Pope John VIII, only managed 10 years on the throne (while still beating his predecessor by one). And John hardly stood down from the papacy on the best of terms, being poisoned and clubbed to death by his clerical colleagues.
John was succeeded by Formosus, whose reign lasted precisely five years. His reign was turbulent and marred by political power struggles. Unfortunately for Formosus, he backed the wrong horse in siding with Arnulf of Carinthia against Lambert of Spoleto, the future king of Italy. And so, after his death in 896, he was exhumed by his political enemies and made to stand trial.
The 10th-century chronicler Liutprand of Cremona tells us that during the trial (which we know as the Cadaver Synod or 'Corpse Trial', Stephen asked Formosus' corpse why he had 'usurped the universal Roman See in such a spirit of ambition' following the death of Pope John VIII (one can only assume he wasn't expecting an answer).
It'll come as no surprise that Stephen didn't push for the death penalty. Instead, the punishment was the retroactive annulment of Formosus' papacy. Which clearly happened, seeing as he couldn't defend himself.
Michelangelo’s legacy is everywhere in the Vatican. The Great Master, whose masterpieces include the David statue in Florence and the Moses statue in Rome, decorated the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel and designed—but never saw the completion of—Saint Peter’s Dome. But it’s elsewhere in the Vatican that you’ll find his only autographed artwork: the marble statue of the Pietà.
Venture inside Saint Peter’s Basilica and in a chapel on the right you’ll find this famous sculpture of the Virgin Mary cradling Jesus’ lifeless body after the crucifixion. Look more closely and you’ll see Michelangelo’s name carved onto Mary’s sash.
Fun facts about the Vatican: it contains Michelangelo’s only artwork with his signature
Fun facts about the Vatican: it contains Michelangelo’s only artwork with his signature
Legend has it that Michelangelo inscribed his name on Mary’s sash after overhearing someone say he couldn’t possibly be the creator of such a beautiful work. You can understand the doubt: Michelangelo was just 19 when he completed the Pietà.
Why doesn't Michelangelo's signature appear more often? The reason is that artworks were often commissioned by wealthy patrons who didn’t want their final product ‘marred’ by the mark of the artist.
Walk with your back to Saint Peter’s Basilica and you’ll soon come across Castel Sant’Angelo, an imposing cylindrical monument with a colourful history. Originally a dynastic mausoleum, constructed during the reign of Hadrian (100 - 136 AD), Castel Sant’Angelo was converted into a fortress in 401 and a papal castle in the 14th century. But although it sits outside the Vatican walls, Castel Sant’Angelo is connected through the secret passageway of the Passetto.
The 800-metre-long secret corridor, Passetto di Borgo, connects Castel Sant’Angelo with the Vatican.
Pope Nicholas III was responsible for the construction of Passetto di Borgo, which connects Castel Sant’Angelo to the Vatican. Completed in 1277, this 800-metre-long corridor saved the lives of at least two popes. In 1494, Pope Alexander IV used it to escape capture by the French king Charles VIII. Just over 30 years later, Clement VII escaped through Passetto, avoiding the massacre of the Swiss Guard by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V on the steps of Saint Peter’s Basilica. (It turns out the popes had ongoing problems with kings called Charles).
Explore Castel Sant'Angelo and more on our Best of Vatican Walking Tour!
Those who have suffered through—or enjoyed—Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons might remember the Passetto featuring prominently. It’s through this corridor that the novel’s illuminatus antagonist transports four abducted cardinals to Castel Sant’Angelo and through here that Robert Langdon—a Harvard professor of the Renaissance with an eidetic memory who fails to pick up a word of Italian throughout the franchise—and sneaks inside Vatican City.
Established in 1506 by Pope Julius II (whose greatest hits include going to war with Naples, establishing the Vatican Museums, and setting in motion the rebuilding of Saint Peter’s Basilica), the Swiss Guard have served the Vatican’s armed forces and Pope’s personal protection for over 500 years.
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Swiss Guard on Duty
The Swiss Guard came into existence against the backdrop of the Italian Wars, a dispute between the Valois kings of France and their Spanish and Habsburg rivals of the Holy Roman Empire. Because various Italian states lent the latter their support, and the Italian peninsula was situated between the belligerents, Italy became the main battleground, causing the pope to request personal protection.
The first 150 Swiss Guard entered Rome on January 22nd, 1506, the official date given to the unit’s foundation. They saw significant combat during their early years, suffering terrible losses during the Sack of Rome in 1527. As previously mentioned, 147 of its 180 soldiers were massacred on the steps of Saint Peter’s Basilica by Charles V’s forces, causing Pope Clement VIIto flee through Passetto.
From the end of the 16th century, the Swiss Guard’s role became increasingly ceremonial. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, standards slipped to such an extent that recruits were rarely even Swiss, coming from Roman families and speaking their local dialect. Between 1910 - 1921, Jules Respond—a Swiss Guard commander with the name of a French search engine—reintroduced most of the requirements that make the unit so famous today.
A member of the Swiss Guard during the reign of Pius VII, c. 1811, by Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot
Conclave of Pius V with Swiss Guard guarding the entrance (1578)
In case you were planning on a radical career change, you should bear in mind that joining the Swiss Guard is no cakewalk. Recruits to the Swiss Guard must be Catholic, single males who have Swiss citizenship and have completed basic training in the Swiss Armed Forces.
Furthermore, they must be between 19 and 30 years old, hold a professional degree or high-school diploma, be at least 5ft 8” (175cm), and have delivered at least three five-star guided tours for Carpe Diem. (Okay, we made the last one up).
New members of the Swiss Guard are sworn in on May 6th, the anniversary of the Sack of Rome. The chaplain of the guard reads the following oath in one of the Guard’s official languages: English, French, Italian or German.
I swear that I will faithfully, loyally and honourably serve the Supreme Pontiff (name of pope) and his legitimate successors, and dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing, if necessary, my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the Apostolic See is vacant. Furthermore, I promise the Commanding Captain and my other superiors respect, fidelity and obedience. I swear to observe all that the honour of my position demands of me.
Each recruit must then swear the following oath of allegiance to the pope
I, (name), swear to diligently and faithfully abide by all that has just been read out to me, so help me God and his Saints
Swiss Guard Oath of Allegiance
One of the most unbelievable facts about the Vatican is that at the beginning of the 16th century, Pope Leo X kept a white elephant called Hanno in the Papal State as his personal pet. Pope Leo received the elephant as a gift from the Portuguese King Manuel I upon ascending to the throne in 1514. He kept it in a specially constructed enclosure between Saint Peter’s Basilica and Apostolic Palace and put the animal to perverse use in a series of strange spectacles.
Sketch of Hanno by Raphael
Hanno was once used in a bizarre re-enactment of the Roman Triumph instigated by Giacomo Baraballo, a full-time buffoon, part-time abbot and favourite of Pope Leo. Dressed in festal robes of ermine-trimmed silk and velvet, Baraballo presented himself before Leo before mounting Hanno in the centre of Saint Peter’s Square and setting off towards the Capitoline Hill. They didn’t get far though, making it only as far as Sant’Angelo bridge before Hanno, distressed by the cacophony of sound around him, panicked, shied violently, and threw his rider onto the Tiber’s muddy riverbank below.
Poor Hanno didn’t last in the court of Leo X. Within two years, he was dead, having been prescribed constipation treatment consisting of gold-enriched laxatives. But his likeness may live on in Bernini's Elephant and Obelisk statue in Rome's Piazza Minerva.
While papal elections have been part and parcel of the Vatican for the last two thousand years, the process for how the elections take place has changed radically in recent years. Before the Papal Conclave was introduced in 1294, cardinal electors could canvas and talk to whomever they wanted. The Conclave added a degree of formality to proceedings, but the secret ballot was only introduced in the 20th century, during the pontificate of Pope Pius X.
Black smoke issuing from the furnace in the Sistine Chapel symbolises the conclave’s failure to elect a pope. Credit: Getty Images
Before the secret ballot, people found out who had been elected pope by word of mouth. After it was introduced, smoke came to symbolise the burning of the ballots during the elections. A little-known fact about the Vatican is that its black smoke was once produced by burning wet straw along with the votes while white smoke was formed by burning them with dry straw. But because the difference was too subtle, chemicals were added to accentuate the smoke colour.
Now the black smoke, which represents the cardinals arriving at electoral loggerheads, is produced by burning potassium perchlorate, anthracene, and sulphur while the white smoke, which represents the election of a new pope, is achieved by burning potassium chlorate, lactose, and rosin
For just over 1,000 years before the unification of Italy (1848 - 1871), the popes ruled over vast swathes of territory in central Italy known as the Papal States. Then, with the unification of the newly formed country under one secular government, the popes’ former land was seized. Except for the Vatican itself.
The Italian States in 1000 (left)
and 1499 (right)
With Pope Pius IX trapped inside his now tiny stretch of territory within the city of Rome, a cold war of sorts broke out between the Vatican and the Italian government, except in the summer, when it was boiling.
Pope Pius IX, a self-proclaimed ‘prisoner of the Vatican’ refused to leave the Vatican, and for almost 60 years his successors followed suit. They believed that venturing forth from the Vatican would be submitting to the authority of the Italian government and as such wouldn’t even appear on Saint Peter’s balcony when soldiers were in the square. It wasn’t until the Lateran Treaty of 1929, signed between the Vatican and the government of Benito Mussolini, that these tensions dissipated.
Venture southeast from Rome into the Alban Hills and you’ll come across the hilltop town of Castel Gandolfo. Perched above the volcanic waters of Lake Albano, this tiny settlement is home to extra-territorial territory of the Holy See in the form of the Pope’s former summer residence.
The land consists of the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo, the landscaped Barberini and Cybo gardens, and the pope’s personal farm, which spans some 55 hectares. Every morning, a basket brimming with fresh produce arrives on the doorstep of the Pope’s Vatican residence from this farm. The daily delivery includes handmade cheeses, yoghurts, eggs and milk (not to mention cauliflower and broccoli which are said to be among Pope Francis’ favourites).
Phew! It's taken us a while to get here, but it's not the destination that's important, it's what you learn along the way. Covering just 44 hectares, Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent nation-state. It takes around 40 minutes to walk the whole way around the walls of Vatican City. But we'd strongly recommend visiting with us on our Best of Vatican Walking Tour.
Vatican City’s official team is called FC Guardia and it’s made up entirely of Swiss Guards. They train at the grounds of Campo Pio XI, situated just outside Vatican City. Why outside? Because space for a football ground inside the Vatican is hard to come by!
FC Guardia: the Vatican’s football team
In 2019, the Vatican’s women's football team kicked off with the Pope’s blessing. More than half of its team is made up of Vatican staff as well as the wives and daughters of employees. It fields some excellent players, including captain Eugene Tcheugoue from Cameroon - a former professional and current ambassador for the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.
Founded in 1972, the Vatican City Championship consists of eight teams comprising the Vatican’s various state departments. The winners strive for fame and glory within the 49 hectares of Vatican territory. And the losers, well… at least they can’t get relegated.
You’ll be surprised to learn that FC Guardia has never won the league. As Swiss Guards must meet the minimum height requirement of 5”8 (1.74 m), you would think they could put away a few headers. But FC Guardia have never won the championship.
Apparently they’ve never really mastered the cross...
Since 1983 the Vatican has been producing its own television programming, Vatican TV. You can live stream Vatican TV here, but it’s not very inspirational stuff. Most of it appears to be tourists walking around Saint Peter’s Square, taking photos and looking lost.
While this might not be one of the most surprising facts about the Vatican, the Holy See also broadcasts daily Catholic news to its followers through the radio station, Radio Vaticana, which broadcasts globally in 40 languages. (You can see the antenna poking about above the Vatican Gardens).
It also has a multilingual newspaper, L’osservatore Romano, which keeps readers updated on religious and cultural issues. Topics range from the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence to the renaissance of James Bond as played by Daniel Craig (this Bond deserves plaudits for not succumbing to the carnal pleasures of his previous incarnations).
If your cash machine greeted you with the message inserito scidulam quaeso ut faciundam cognoscas rationem, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s time to cut back on the prosecco. But this isn’t drunk Italian, it’s Latin. And where else in the world than the Vatican can you withdraw money (deductio ex pecunio) in the language of Saint Augustine.
Check out this video of a guy speaking Latin in the Vatican and being able to hold down conversations that aren’t about the intricacies of scripture!
Although it brings in significant revenue through sale of stamps, coins, memorabilia and assorted pottery gifts and the labour of its roughly 4,800 employees, the economy of Vatican City mainly depends on charitable donations. These go by the name of Peter’s Pence and are administered not by the Vatican itself but by the Holy See (the nation’s governing body).
Responsible for auditing and issuing annual reports is the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See. But a lot of mystery still surrounds the Vatican’s finances, from the annual deficit the Holy See runs to the opaque operations of the Vatican bank.
Riddle me this: how can the Vatican have the highest crime rate in the world when it has fewer than 1,000 official residents? Nope, it's nothing to do with pickpocket priests or corrupt cardinals. It’s because these statistics are per capita, and the Vatican has the world’s smallest population.
Most crimes are committed by locals or tourists. Petty crimes like shoplifting, pickpocketing and purse-snatching are relatively commonplace, so do be alert while visiting the Vatican. But the Vatican City is no more dangerous than anywhere else in Italy, and if you run into trouble the Swiss Guard are always on hand to help you out
(In all seriousness, they’re not. Please call the police).
According to a study by the Wine Institute, residents of the Vatican consume more wine per capita than in any other country in the world. The survey showed that they ingest 74 litres (105 bottles) of Christ's blood each year. That’s more than double what the average French citizen consumes, and if we know anything about the French it’s that they love drinking wine and going on strike.
Pope Francis taking communion. Getty Images
But all is not immediately as it seems. Firstly, we have to consider that lots of consumption is connected to celebratory Communion wine in which multiple members of the congregation take part. We should also bear in mind that the Vatican’s population is predominantly male (just 5.5% is female), childless, older, and eat and drink communally.
Finally, per capita statistics are easily distorted. Tourists taking advantage of the Vatican’s tax-free supermarket wine, for example, can significantly skew the statistics. And you didn't hear that from us.
See n. 26 and 27 and the problem with statistics per capita. 😉
As far as surprising facts about the Vatican go, the demographic stability of a state almost exclusively populated by elderly childless men might not come as much of a shock. Population growth through childbirth is unlikely, so its population increases or decreases according to vacancies for jobs, including the top job of pope.
In 2011, the number of people with Vatican citizenship numbered just 594. This accounted for 71 cardinals, 109 members of the Swiss Guard, 51 members of the clergy and one nun inside the Vatican walls. Most of the Vatican’s citizens consisted of the 307 members of the clergy in diplomatic positions around the world.
Since the Gregorian reform of the calendar in 1582, the Vatican has been conducting astronomical observations. The Holy See has operated its own observatory near the Pope’s summer residence of Castel Gandolfo since 1891. But because of light pollution over the Italian capital, the Holy See purchased a second research centre in Tuscon, Arizona in 1981.
Brother Giuseppe Lais (1845-1921) using the Carte du Ciel (Celestial Map) telescope in the Leonine Tower at the Vatican.
The Vatican continues to conduct astronomical research through the state-of-the-art telescope atop southeast Arizona’s Mount Graham. You can keep up-to-date with their research here.
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