We’re entering the world’s smallest nation through two large arms forming two parts of the majestuous and solemn Bernini’s colonnade. The Papal States were born from the Lateran Treaty in 1929 signed by Italy and the Roman Catholic Church. It is known that since the 4th century Pope Saint Damasus had built a first monument on the spot. Leo IV, in the 9th century, created a district called Civitas Leonina, the City of Leo, and in the 15th century Nicholas V had the construction of the pontifical palace of Vatican started. Pope Alexander VI of the House of Borgia enlarged the palace, Innocent VIII built a villa within the complex, the Belvedere, that architect Donato Bramante, later, under the command of Julius II, connected to the palace through a courtyard and a garden, the Cortile de la Pigna, whose name came from a huge bronze pine originating from the Baths of Agrippa. The City of Vatican includes Saint Peter’s Basilica, exceptional museums, the fantastic Sistine Chapel, the Teutonic College, the Papal Court, the Governor’s Palace and the marvelous gardens full of statues, temples and fountains.