Vatican City

Vatican City, officially Stato della Città del Vaticano, covers just 0.44 km² entirely enclosed within Rome — the only sovereign state in the world completely surrounded by a single city. The modern state came into existence through the Lateran Treaties of 1929, when Mussolini's Italy and the Holy See ended decades of dispute and carved out a miniature successor to the Papal States dissolved in 1870. As the seat of the Pope and the spiritual center for roughly 1.4 billion Catholics, it hosts St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's famous ceiling frescoes, and the Vatican Museums — one of the largest art collections on earth with over 20,000 works on display. Visitors can climb the dome of St. Peter's — 551 steps to the lantern — for sweeping views across Rome. Latin remains the city-state's only official language.