41°54′10″N12°27′9″E / 41.90278°N 12.45250°E /41.90278; 12.45250
TheVatican City is unique due to the country's position as an urban, landlockedenclave ofRome, Italy. With an area of 49 hectares (120 acres; 0.49 square kilometres),[a] and a border with Italy of 3.5 km (2.2 mi), it is theworld's smallest independent state. Outside the Vatican City, thirteen buildings in Rome andCastel Gandolfo (thepope's summer residence) enjoyextraterritorial rights (one building, thePaul VI Audience Hall, 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 asearthquakes.
The city state has the same climate as Rome: temperate, mild, rainy winters (September to mid-May) with hot, dry summers (May to September).
Vatican City sits on a low hill. The hill has been called theVatican Hill (in Latin,Mons Vaticanus) since long beforeChristianity existed. AnEtruscan settlement, possibly calledVatica orVaticum, may have existed in the area generally known by theancient Romans as "Vatican territory"(vaticanus ager), but if so no archaeological trace of it has been discovered.[3]
This is a list of theextreme points of Vatican City: the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location, as well as the highest and lowest points.
The lowest point in Vatican City is an unnamed location at 19 metres (62 ft). The highest point is another unnamed location at 76 metres (249 ft). The tallest building isSt. Peter's Basilica, at 138 metres (453 feet).
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 ofland economy, born of necessity due to its extremely limited territory. Thus, the urban development (i.e., buildings) is optimized to occupy about half of the total area, while the rest is reserved for open space, including theVatican 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, and cultural/art centers.
In July 2007, the Vatican accepted an offer that would make it the onlycarbon neutral state for the year, due to the donation of theVatican Climate Forest inHungary. The forest was to be sized to offset the year's carbon dioxide emissions.[4] No trees have been planted under the project and the carbon offsets have not materialized.[5][6]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook.CIA.
