Tourism in Vatican City
The Vatican was built during the year 326 A.D. As the population and housing grew, the first palace was built during the 5th century under the reign of Pope Symmachus (498–514). Under the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States grew to include a large portion of central Italy. But since the unification of Italy in the mid-19th century, Vatican City is the only papal state that has survived. As of 1929, because of the Lateran Treaty, the Vatican is recognized as its own independent state, the smallest in the world in population and land size, with a population of just over 800 people in July 2011. The Pope is not only the head of the Catholic religion but also head of state for Vatican City. Since the Vatican is located in Italy, the main language of the Vatican state (or Vatican City) is Italian.
List of diplomatic missions to the Holy See
This page lists diplomatic missions accredited to the Holy See, the government of the Catholic Church and the temporal ruler of the Vatican City. 87 countries currently maintain embassies to the Holy See. The Vatican City State, over which the Holy See is sovereign, is the smallest independent entity in the world and its size renders any resident diplomatic community impractical. Therefore, all embassies to the Holy See are located in Rome making Vatican City one of only two sovereign states, the other being Liechtenstein, with no resident embassies located within its territory. This leads to the unique situation that the Embassy of Italy to the Holy See is based on its home territory. This also means that an embassy of the Republic of China (more commonly known as Taiwan) to the Holy See is located in Italy, which does not recognize the Republic of China.