Vatican City With an area of just 0.44 km2 and a population of 829 people, Vatican City is the smallest independent country in Europe, smaller than other sovereign states like San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra and Monaco. The state is on Vatican Hill in the central part of Rome, a few hundred metres from the river Tiber. In 1859 the papal states covered an area of 44,030 km2 but now there is only the tiny Vatican. During the period of italian unification most of them became part of Italy, but the Lateran Treaty of 1929, between the Vatican and the kingdom of Italy, established the autonomy of the Holy See' or Vatican City. The Italian police force doesn't operate inside the Vatican, the Pope's private police force"The Swiss Guard' protects him and the Vatican. The Vatican has also got its own yellow and white flag.