For a thousand years the popes ruled half of Italy. In 1870 they lost it all, and only in 1929, with the Lateran Pacts signed with Mussolini's government, was a state born of just 44 hectares, with its own guard, its own bank, its own stamps and euro coins bearing the pope's face. Thirteen stops between an emperor's tomb turned fortress, the secret corridor of the 1527 escape, the quarter of the Saxon pilgrims, the avenue of reconciliation, the border painted on the ground, the obelisk that watched the martyrs die, the Swiss Guard, the Pietà, Peter's tomb, Michelangelo's dome, the gate of the pope's bank, the museum entrance and the chapel where the pontiff is chosen. Approximate audio duration: 23 minutes.
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El Vaticano: cómo la Iglesia construyó el estado más pequeño y más poderoso del mundo
Durante mil años los papas gobernaron media Italia. En 1870 lo perdieron todo, y recién en 1929, con los Pactos Lateranenses firmados con el gobierno de Mussolini, nació un estado de apenas 44 hectáreas, con guardia propia, banco propio, sellos propios y monedas de euro con la cara del papa. Trece paradas entre la tumba de un emperador convertida en fortaleza, el corredor secreto de la huida de 1527, el barrio de los peregrinos sajones, la avenida de la reconciliación, la frontera pintada en el suelo, el obelisco que vio morir a los mártires, la Guardia Suiza, la Piedad, la tumba de Pedro, la cúpula de Miguel Ángel, la puerta del banco del papa, la entrada de los museos y la capilla donde se elige al pontífice. Duración aproximada de audio: 23 minutos.
Tour stops
13 stops · ~23 min of audio · 3.19 km on foot (~50 min walking) · about 1 h 15 min in total
You are standing before an enormous stone cylinder on the banks of the Tiber. It looks like a castle, and it was one. But it was born as a tomb: the mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian, completed around the year 139.
For centuries the popes used it as fortress, prison and strongbox. It was the safest place in Rome, and it stood a short walk from St Peter's. That closeness is the key to this whole tour.
Look up at the summit: a bronze angel sheathing his sword. Legend says that in 590, during a plague, Pope Gregory the Great saw the Archangel Michael here, announcing the end of the epidemic. Hen…
2
The Escape Corridor
Notice this long wall, with arches below and battlements above. Inside, high up, runs an elevated passage about 800 metres long. This is the Passetto di Borgo, the corridor linking the Vatican to the castle.
Pope Nicholas III had it reinforced around 1277, on top of an older wall. The idea was simple: if Rome turned dangerous, the pope could cross to the fortress without setting foot in the street.
In 1494, when King Charles VIII of France entered Rome with his army, Pope Alexander VI, the Borgia pope, used it to take refuge.
But the day that made it famous was 6 May 1527. The troops of Emp…
3
The Pilgrims' Quarter
You are on Borgo Pio, a pedestrian street of trattorias and rosary shops. This district, the Borgo, grew up hugging the tomb of St Peter, to serve the pilgrims who came from all over Europe.
The name itself is thought to be English in origin. From the eighth century there was a Schola Saxonum here, a lodging for Anglo-Saxon pilgrims. The Old English word burh, a fortified settlement, is said to have given us Borgo.
In 846, Saracen raiders sailed up the Tiber and plundered St Peter's, which then lay outside the walls of Rome. It was a scandal across Christendom.
Pope Leo IV responded with a …
4
The Avenue of Reconciliation
You are on Via della Conciliazione, the straight avenue that runs into St Peter's. Its name recalls a peace signed between two states. To understand it, we need to go back to 1870.
On 20 September that year, the troops of the new Kingdom of Italy blasted a breach in Rome's wall at Porta Pia. The Papal States ceased to exist. Rome became the capital of Italy.
Pope Pius IX refused to accept it. He shut himself inside the Vatican and declared himself a prisoner. For almost sixty years no pope went out into the city. It was known as the Roman Question.
On 11 February 1929, at the Lateran Palace…
5
A Border Drawn on the Ground
Look at the ground between the two ends of the colonnade. There is a strip of white travertine stone joining one arm to the other. It is not decoration. It is the border between Italy and Vatican City.
There are no customs, no passports, no barriers. You cross from one country to another in a single step. And yet, on the other side begins a sovereign state, with its own head, its own laws and its own yellow and white flag.
It is the smallest state in the world: about 44 hectares. It would fit several times into a big city park. Fewer than a thousand people live in it.
A curious detail of th…
6
The Obelisk That Saw Nero's Circus
You are beside the obelisk, a needle of Egyptian granite about 25 metres tall, without a single hieroglyphic inscription. It came to Rome in the year 37, brought from Alexandria on the orders of the Emperor Caligula.
He set it up in the middle of a private circus at the foot of the Vatican hill. That circus was completed by Nero. And according to Christian tradition, it was there, during Nero's persecution, that the apostle Peter died crucified, and in a nearby cemetery he was buried.
This obelisk, then, is the only witness from that place still standing. And it is the only one in Rome that …
7
The Swiss Guard
At the end of the right-hand colonnade there is a great bronze door: the Portone di Bronzo, the entrance to the Apostolic Palace. If you are lucky you will see a guard in a blue, red and yellow striped uniform, halberd in hand.
This is the Pontifical Swiss Guard. Pope Julius II founded it on 22 January 1506, when some 150 Swiss soldiers arrived in Rome. Swiss mercenaries were then the most feared in Europe.
Now for the end of the Passetto story. On 6 May 1527, during the Sack of Rome, 147 Swiss Guards died covering the retreat of Clement VII. Only 42 reached the castle with him.
That is why…
8
A Basilica Paid For with Indulgences
You have entered St Peter's Basilica. Before looking up, turn right. In the first chapel, behind glass, is Michelangelo's Pietà: Mary with the dead body of Jesus across her knees.
Michelangelo finished it around 1499, when he was about 24. Look at the band across Mary's chest: he carved his name there. It is the only work he ever signed.
The glass has a reason. On 21 May 1972 a man attacked the statue with a hammer, breaking the Virgin's arm and part of her face. It was restored using the original fragments.
Now look around you. Another basilica once stood here, raised by the Emperor Consta…
9
Above Peter's Tomb
You are beneath the dome, facing Bernini's baldacchino: four twisted bronze columns holding up a canopy almost 30 metres high, the height of a ten-storey building. It was made between 1623 and 1634 for Pope Urban VIII, of the Barberini family.
Look at the bees climbing the columns: they were the Barberini emblem. It was said that part of the bronze was stripped from the portico of the Pantheon, and a Roman lampoon put it this way: what the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did.
But what matters lies below. In front of the baldacchino a balustrade leads down to the Confessio. And beneath i…
10
The Whole Country from Above
If you made the climb, you are on the balcony around the lantern of the dome, more than a hundred metres above the square. It is 551 steps from the bottom, or about 320 if you took the lift to the terrace. The last flights are narrow and slanted, following the curve of the dome.
Michelangelo designed this dome. He took charge of the works in 1546, already over seventy, and died in 1564 without seeing it finished. Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana closed it in 1590. To the tip of the cross it stands about 136 metres.
From here you see the whole country in a single glance. In front, the…
11
A Bank, a Post Office and Euros with the Pope's Face
You are in front of Porta Sant'Anna, the Vatican's service entrance. This is where those who live and work inside come and go, on foot or by car. Two Swiss Guards check who passes.
On the other side is a city in miniature: a pharmacy, a supermarket, a petrol station, a post office with its own stamps. Official cars carry SCV number plates, for Stato della Città del Vaticano.
A fact that is often told wrong: the Vatican has no currency of its own. It uses the euro, under an agreement with the European Union. What it does have is the right to mint its own euro coins, bearing the pope's face or…
12
A Collection That Began with One Statue
You are in front of the entrance to the Vatican Museums, at the foot of the walls. See how high they are. These sixteenth-century walls now mark the border, and the visitors' queue usually runs right along them.
The Museums grew from a single statue. On 14 January 1506, a man working in his vineyard on the Esquiline hill found the Laocoön buried in the ground: a Trojan priest and his two sons attacked by serpents.
Julius II, the same pope behind the basilica and the Swiss Guard, sent Michelangelo to see it and bought it. He displayed it in a Vatican courtyard with other ancient sculptures. T…
13
The Chapel Where the Pope Is Chosen
You are in the Sistine Chapel. It is smaller than you imagined: about 40 metres long and 13 wide. It was built between 1473 and 1481 for Pope Sixtus IV, hence its name. Its proportions are often said to copy those of Solomon's Temple as described in the Bible.
The walls were painted first by Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and other masters. But look up. Between 1508 and 1512, commissioned by Julius II, Michelangelo painted the vault: the Creation, Adam, the Flood, hundreds of figures. And he thought of himself as a sculptor.
Now look at the altar wall. He painted the Last Judgment between…
How long does the "The Vatican: How the Church Built the Smallest and Most Powerful State on Earth" audio tour take?
It has about 23 minutes of audio across 13 stops and a 3.19 km walking route (~50 min on foot). Plan roughly 1 h 15 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "An Emperor's Tomb, the Popes' Refuge" (coordinates 41.90306, 12.4663). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Rome and pick "The Vatican: How the Church Built the Smallest and Most Powerful State on Earth". No account required to start.
