Page 422 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

420  ROME AND LAZIO

A Tour of the Vatican

The Vatican, a sovereign state since . St Peter’s
February 1929, is ruled by the pope, Most of the great
Europe’s only absolute monarch. architects of the
Renaissance and
About 500 people live here, and in Baroque periods
addition to accommodation for staff had a hand in the
and ecclesiasts, the city has its own design of the Basilica
post office, banks, currency, judicial of St Peter’s, the most
famous church in
system, radio station, shops and a daily Christendom
newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. (see pp422–3).

. Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo frescoed the ceiling
with scenes from Genesis (1508–
12), and the altar wall with The
Last Judgment (1534–41). The
chapel is used by cardinals when
electing a new pope (see p428).

Raphael
Rooms
0 metres 75
0 yards 75

KEY
1 Piazza San Pietro was laid out `
by Bernini between 1656 and 1667. P I A Z Z A D E L S A N T ’ U F F I Z I O P I A Z Z A
2 Information office S A N P I E T R O
3 The Papal Audience Chamber
4 Vatican Radio broadcasts in 20 P I A Z Z A
languages throughout the world P I O X I I
from this tower, part of the
9th-century Leonine Wall.
5 The Vatican Gardens, open for
guided tours, make up one third of
the Vatican’s territory.
To Via della Conciliazione
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp573–6 and pp596–600

420-421_EW_Italy.indd 420 4/4/17 5:36 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2)
Date 14th November 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm