Vatican - Saint Peter's Square (IT-38813)

It's already my 2nd card from Vatican, but this time it was sent from Italy (the previous one was indeed sent from Vatican) :) I guess that most of postcards from this country show the Saint Peter's Square, simply because there's not much more space in Vatican :) It's the smallest formally independent country in the world (it's area is just 0.44 km2 or 0.17 sq mi) and I think this record is unbeatable, unless you recognize the indpendence of "countries" like Sealand :)

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I've been to one of those tiny European countries, but it was the biggest one of them - Luxembourg, which can actually be considered a normal country, with different towns, villages and distances that you can't walk in a hour :) I find it difficult to call Vatican a real country, it's rather a relict of some political system that used to exist in the past, because it's too small and in fact strongly dependent on Italy. But still, having a country with a territory much smaller than 1 square kilometer in this world is something very interesting :) As I've already written before, Vatican is also an important place for me as for Christian, but I don't really feel like going there, just because I don't enjoy crowded places.

Vatican City (IT-37250)

This is one of the best postcard surprises that I've received so far :) It was sent as an official card with Italian ID, but actually it's my first card from Vatican :) It shows the Saint Peter's Square with the St. Peter's Basilica and also a photo of the Pope Benedict XVI. Vatican is definitely a place worth visiting, with very interesting history and important to me, as I'm Christian. But, if ever have a chance to go Vatican, I wouldn't like to be there at the moment, where there are thousands of turists, like on some holidays. As I can see on this card, there are moments, when the Saint Peter's Square isn't very crowded, so there is some hope :)

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And here are the Vatican stamps :) It's a really special feeling to have a card from Vatican, which was actually sent from the smallest country in the world :)


Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano), is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the capital city of Italy. At approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and with a population of around 900, it is the smallest country in the world by both population and area.

The Vatican City is a city-state that came into existence in 1929 and is thus clearly distinct from the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Holy See, which existed long before 1929. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian. Official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities even have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, only issues diplomatic and service passports; the state of Vatican City issues normal passports. In both cases the passports issued are very few.