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Vatican City
The Vatican City is located totally within the city of Rome, extended over a hill west of the River Tiber, and disassociated from the rest of the city by a wall. Vatican City comprises St Peter's Church, St Peter's Square, the Vatican and the Vatican Gardens.
The Vatican City is distinguished for its majestic St Peter's Basilica. Near St Peter's stands the Vatican Palace, the Pope's residence. Between the principal attributes of the Palace are the Stanze, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum, containing important works of art and valuable pictures.
Vatican City (Citta del Vaticano), also erroneously acquaintance with a popular synonym "The Holy See" (Santa Sede), is the latest and only current Papal state in existence and the temporal seat of the Pope, head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Located within the city of Rome in Italy, the Vatican is the world's smallest state. Outside the Vatican City itself, 13 buildings in Rome and Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, also enjoy extraterritorial rights. On April 19, 2005, Josef Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
 Entrances to Vatican City
People can arrive to Vatican City from Italian capital of Rome, by taxi, bus or by foot. Take the Metro line A to Cipro for the Museums, or Ottaviano for St. Peter's, or the tram to Piazza del Risorgimento.
Tours
Official tours: Guided tours are offered by the Vatican itself for the cost of € 23.50. These must be solicited in advance by fax from one month to one week before the requested tour date.
Vatican Museum
During many centuries, the Vatican has had official artists conceiving masterpieces in the name of the Catholic Church. The interesting thing is that Vatican officials make this art collection open to the public in the Vatican Museum ("Musei Vaticani" in Italian).
Vatican Economy
The Vatican has a singular, noncommercial economy that is assisted financially by contributions (called as Peter's Pence) from Roman Catholics throughout the world.
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