Visit the Vatican Museums and Upper Galleries, including the one of the Maps, Tapestries and Candelabra. Explore the Stanze of Raffaello, part of the apartment of Pope Julius II, where the young Raphael spent many hours decorating the walls of the rooms with beautiful frescoes.

Visit the Borgia rooms, part of the papal apartments painted by Pinturicchio and his scholars. The Modern art and contemporary galleries were put together as an homage to Pope Paul VI who, during a homely in the Sistine Chapel underlined the importance of the link between the Church and Art.

Get lost admiring the unique frescoes that decorate the interiors of the Sistine Chapel. Painted by some of the greatest masters of the Renaissance period, the decorative frescoes depict Biblical episodes, such as the Creation of Adam and Eve, and many more.

The Vatican City State, also known simply as the Vatican, became independent from Italy with the Lateran Treaty (1929), and it is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity of international law, which maintains the city state's temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. With an area of 49 hectares and a population of about 825,it is the smallest state in the world by both area and population.