Silly question, but would I consider the Vatican City as another country in my roster?

Question

I have a life-long goal of seeing at least 50 countries before I die. I'm behind but I figure I would see most of them over the next 20 years as I get closer to retirement and make my fortune. :-)

Anyway, we will be in Italy this week!! Part of that trip will be four days in Rome and of course, Vatican City.

So before my trip to Italy, I have been to 12 countries. We will only be in Italy and of course, Vatican City. So my question is, will the number of countries I've been to now be 13 or 14?

Or am I just quibbling over a technicality?

Answer 1

Vatican City is recognized as a country. For example the CIA's World Factbook and UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office both refer to it as a country.

What I suggest: count it as a country, but raise your target to 51. Win-win. :-)

Answer 2

Vatican City is generally recognized as a country by most authorities, and has international recognition as such. It may not be a very big country (indeed, it is smaller than the US Pentagon), but it is a country nonetheless.

If your goal is purely on the number of countries reached, then you should definitely count it as one (and you should also visit San Marino while you're at it, which is another enclaved country in Italy).

If your goal is to see a variety of places, however, you may not want to count it as one, since it is very, very small. (If that's your goal, then, I would suggest you revise your goal to perhaps visting at least 1/3 of the countries on each continent, which would almost certainly have you see more).

Answer 3

Vatican City is definitely a country. It is recognized as such in 1929 by a treaty with Italy. It is not a revival of the Papal States. Size doesn't matter for being a country (there is another small country in Italy: San Marino). When you have visited Vatican City, you can say that you have been in the smallest country in the world. It might be the most militarized country in the world as well, because more then 14% of its inhabitants are soldiers or officers of the Swiss Guard. It is for sure the most clerical country in the world. :-)

Answer 4

Imagine you've reached 50 countries, including Vatican City. Would you feel you've achieved your goal? There's the answer to your question. Your opinion is the only thing that matters here.

Personally, I feel England, Scotland and Wales are separate countries, but that Vatican City is just part of Italy. Fortunately, I'm not a diplomat.

Answer 5

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 See is universally recognized under international law.

Article 2 of the Lateran Pact states that

Italy recognizes the sovereignty of the Holy See in the international realm as an attribute inherent in its nature in conformity with its tradition and with the requirements of its mission to the world.

Other nations are landlocked, having no natural borders such as an ocean. Vatican City is simply a nation set within the borders of another nation. You should definitely list Vatican City as a separate nation on your itinerary.

Answer 6

One regularly used definition of a country is whether it's a member of the United Nations. The Vatican is not, it has observer status. However, it most certainly is an independent territory, which probably is a better definition in this context as compared to 'country', anyway. Or, perhaps you should make your objective to visit 50 countries and independent territories.

Related, and again using a slightly different definition of what constitutes a 'country', is the Travelers' Century Club.

Answer 7

The crux here is the meaning of the word "country". Several arguments are presented in this thread to justify that Vatican is a country: existence of an ISO-3166 domain, an entry in the CIA factbook, passages from the Lateran Pact, etc.

My preferred definition of a "country" is the following one

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. (Frank Zappa)

Vatican does not have a beer. Nor does it have an airline. Hence, Vatican is not a country.