In addition to being listed separately in publications like the
CIA World Factbook, Vatican City also has its own ISO-3166
domain: .va. The title for 3166 is "Codes for the representation
of names of countries and their subdivisions", which could imply
a subdivision of Italy, except... The United Nations was a party
to Vatican City receiving its own domain, as the UN is
represented among the voting members of the ISO 3166 Maintenance
Agency, and the UN list of country names lists Vatican City as
separate and distinct from any other nation, with no comment
indicating it is a territory of, or administered by, another
nation; that is the case with Montserrat, Faroe Islands, French
Guiana, and numerous others. The website for Stato della Città
del Vaticano, translated as Vatican City State, says: Vatican
City State was founded following the signing of the Lateran
Pacts between the Holy See and Italy on February 11th 1929.
These were ratified on June 7th 1929. Its nature as a sovereign
State distinct from the Holy