On the west bank of the Tiber, directly crossways from Rome’s historic centre, the VATICAN CITY was established as an independent sovereign state in 1929, a tiny territory surrounded by high walls on its far, western side and on the near side opening its doors to the rest of the city and its pilgrims in the form of St Peter’s and its colonnaded piazza. The Latin study Mons Vaticanus (Vatican Hill) is a corruption of an Etruscan term, indicating a good place for perceptive the flights of birds and lightning on the horizon that was believed to prophesy the future. It’s believed that later St Peter himself was buried in a pagan cemetery here, giving rise to the building of a basilica to venerate his study and the siting of the headquarters of the Catholic Church here. After reaching an uneasy agreement with Mussolini, the Vatican became a sovereign state in 1929, and nowadays has its own broadcasting station, newspaper, currency and postal service, and indeed security service in the colourfully dressed Swiss Guards. However, its relationship with the Italian state is not surprisingly anything but straightforward.

You wouldn’t know at any point that you had left Rome and entered the Vatican; indeed the area around the Vatican, known as the Borgo , is one of the most cosmopolitan districts of Rome, full of hotels and restaurants, and scurrying tourists and pilgrims - as indeed it always has been since the king of Wessex founded the first hotel for pilgrims here in the eighth century. You may find yourself staying in one of many mid-range hotels located here, although unless you’re a pilgrim it’s a better intent to base yourself in the more atmospheric city centre and travel back and forth on the useful bus #64. However much you try, one visit is never anywhere near enough.