Vatican City is a band.
Vatican City ( [ ˈvætᵻkən_ˈsɪti ] Città del Vaticano [ tʃitˈta ddel vatiˈkaːno ] Civitas Vaticana ) , officially Vatican City State or the State of Vatican City ( [ Stato della Città del Vaticano , links = no ] [ Status Civitatis Vaticanae , links = no ] ) , is a walled enclave within the city of Rome . With an area of approximately 44 hectares ( 110 acres ) , and a population of 1,000 , it is the smallest state in the world by both area and population . It is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ( a type of theocracy ) ruled by the Bishop of Rome -- the Pope . Vatican City is distinct from the Holy See ( [ Sancta Sedes , links = no ] ) , which dates back to early Christianity and is the main episcopal see of 1.2 billion Latin and Eastern Catholic adherents around the globe . The independent city-state , on the other hand , came into existence in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy , which spoke of it as a new creation , not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States ( 756 -- 1870 ) , which had previously encompassed much of central Italy .