Vatican City
Vatican City may be the smallest independent country in the world, but there is absolutely nothing small about what they’ve packed inside it. St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums and the sheer amount of art accumulated here over centuries are almost overwhelming.
The Vatican Museums seem to go on forever, with room after room filled with paintings, sculptures, tapestries and artifacts. Eventually all roads lead to the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s extraordinary ceiling. It’s one of those works of art you’ve seen reproduced thousands of times, but nothing really prepares you for standing underneath the real thing.
St. Peter’s Basilica is equally staggering. The scale of the interior is difficult to appreciate in photographs — everything is enormous, lavish and designed to impress. Michelangelo’s Pietà was a particular highlight among an almost ridiculous amount of art and architecture.
Whatever your feelings about the Catholic Church, the history, art and sheer spectacle of Vatican City are impossible to ignore. It’s one of the most extraordinary collections of human creativity — and wealth — concentrated into one very small place.
