Vatican City

Within the country of Italy are 2 very special countries:

Vatican city (both a city and an independent country) 

and

San Marino (a beautiful independent country in northern Italy)

This blog post includes some photos from Vatican city and a few extras of Rome.  This first grouping of photos were taken from the top of St Peter's Cathedral.  You can hike to the top or take an elevator part way and hike the rest of the way to the roof, where you can see the Eternal City stretch out in every direction. 

This is a statue depicting Charlemagne who was a leader/Warrior for the ancient Pope.  I learned that he is one of my ancestors. This statue is located in the entrance of St Peter's Cathedral.

 

One of our favorite sculptures is this one of Mary holding the crucified Jesus called the Pieta.  Michelangelo was in his early 20s when he sculpted this masterpiece.

St Peter's Cathedral from a few blocks away.

The following Roman sites are not part of Vatican city but are close by within walking distance.