Vatican City’s Hidden Buildings

We'll be back to hard-hitting videos on mega cities, zoning, street design, etc. soon, but I thought we could all use a little break with a fun topic! Enjoy!

If you're ever in Rome and you want to send a letter internationally, use the Vatican city postal service, it is much quicker and more efficient then the Italian postal service.

Italy has an exclave, Campione d'Italia, a small village/town surrounded by Switzerland, if you feel like exploring more Italian weird citys

Fun family facts: About 800 people now live in Vatican City, including 20 children from Swiss Guard families. Every day their parents bus them to and from the Swiss School of Rome, which is located just northeast of city center near Sapienza University. Guards can marry once they've served for five years.

Speaking of small places that function like cities, I've been curious for some time about what we can learn from college campuses and universities. I know a lot of them have their own post office, residence halls, gardeners/waste management/utilities, security, recreation centers and government in the form of presidents/administration. Some even have bus systems!

I was lucky enough back in 1997 during the Christmas Season to be able to have lunch on Vatican grounds everyday for 2 weeks. On the grounds is the Ethiopian College. I contacted the head of the college and told him I would like to learn more about the college and the Ethiopian Catholic Church. So just by asking I was able to go everyday for lunch and I was lucky enough to get tickets for Midnight Mass too. Every clerical group has an "EMBASSY" to the Holy See and I contacted one of the Congragations from my Church (I am a Maronite) and they let me stay for free (I did give a donation) for the two weeks I was there. I was told that if people wished to see Rome, Italy, etc. they should contact monasteries and convents to see if they take in guest for a reduced fee.

My Computer Science professor who teaches AI, and hacking is a practicing priest. He got his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon so hes no ordinary computer scientist. Its not shocking to find people of science in the chuch. They're often required to have a 4 year degree before brotherhood so my university has priests who are engineers, pilots, astrophysicists, biologists, chemists, etc..

I used to work in Vatican City over 30 years ago… I can confirm petrol was way cheaper than in Rome, it was one of the perks of working there. But then I also remember having to buy stacks of Timberland for my friends and getting endless supplied of medicines for my auntie… Good times 😢

7:45 Mispronunciation on "Gendarmarie." -- no hard G on that in English, Italian, or Ecclesiastical Latin.

I've just returned from Rome. Your video popped up, as a notification, which made me interested in a place I'd never given a second thought. We booked the tickets with 48 hours. Absolutely wonderful trip.

The science institute is not surprising at all. The Church was one of the biggest funders of science back in the day. Only people who are not familiar with the history of the Church or science for that matter will be shocked about this discovery

I was a resident of the Vatican City State for four years. The Vatican City State has various other buildings scattered around Rome including Saint Paul's Basilica, Saint Paul's School, The Beda College etc. The Vatican City State also contains the Papal Palace in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. They are not part of Italy as it says in this video. Best wishes.

It's gendarmerie (soft G), not gandarmerie. It literally means "men-at-arms" in French.

This video is exceptionally researched and I can confirm pretty much all of it. I lived in Rome.

I had the opportunity to walk around the Gardens (which are closed in the afternoon when the Pope walks there). So beautiful with the sculptures and fountains! Now security is tighter and you can go only on a bus tour.

Another great city/town to check out is louvain-la-neuve in Belgium it is a university town that also has permanent residents, shopping mall, police station, clinique, hotels, cinema eventhough it is a Catholic uni (UC Louvain) there is also a mosque. This was a planned city in the 70s after french speaking students were chased out of KU Leuven (dutch speaking uni in Leuven). It is unique in Belgium as most unis are inside a city and only cater to students needs.

But do they have an Amazon fulfilment centre? Also, if you are ever visiting the Vatican don't just bee-line to the Sistine Chapel like so many do. Some of the other stuff in the museum is amazing. Personal favourite is the Raphael loggia. Better than the Sistine IMO.

I'm realky surprised nobody has mentioned absolutely perfect hat throw at 11:18. Somebody landed a forward-facing hat, perfectly on centerline and slightly up front on the popemobile. It's amazing, and it looks like it's wearing the hat!

I'm Italian (born and raised near and in Rome), I've been following you for a couple of years now and i would like to thank you for this interesting video😍. If you have time you could cover San Marino as well, our other notsomuchspokenabout enclave

Wow, a city that has >50% green space, that's probably more than my country... The 6% parking space is a bit of a bummer though