Vatican: A Private Visit to a Secret World is a new book by Giovanni Maria Vian and Caroline Pigozzi examining the “complex city state” by diving inside the Vatican.
Pigozzi is a journalist specialising in Vatican history. At the same time, Maria Vian is a historian, as well as the former editor-in-chief of L’Osservatore Romano – the daily newspaper of the Vatican City State.
Published by the French-founded publishing house Assouline, the Vatican looks at the enclave of Rome known worldwide.
© LE TELLIER Philippe-Getty Images
A Swiss Guard on duty in the Apostolic Palace. © Eric Vandeville
Cardinals take an oath of secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel before beginning the conclave to elect the next pope. © Abaca Press/Alamy Stock Photo
Allied troops in St. Peter’s Square during World War II. © Bettmann/Getty Images
“The Vatican is a complex city-state that for many people still conjures up notions of secrecy,” a statement announcing the new book reads.
“The Vatican has always exercised powers of fascination and seduction over us, with its history stretching back nearly twenty centuries, its spirituality, its scandals and its enigmas. As a fantasy world, it has inspired cinematic visions from Federico Fellini’s Roma to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part III and Paolo Sorrentino’s The New Pope. But what is the real Vatican?
Regia Hall © Eric Vandeville
Displayed in Castel Gandolfo, the papal coat of arms of Benedict XVI (2005–13). © Eric Vandeville/akg-images
Displayed in Castel Gandolfo, the papal coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII (1655–67). © Eric Vandeville/akg-images
Statue of St. Peter, sculpted by Giuseppe De Fabris, 1838–40, originally for St. Paul Outside the Walls and erected in St. Peter’s Square in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. © Eric Vandeville/akg-images
Jacques-Louis David, Le Sacre de Napoléon (detail), 1806–07; oil on canvas; Louvre Museum, Paris © DEA/E.Lessing/De Agostini/Getty Images
Antique map of the Leonine City, showing the walls built by order of Pope Leo IV in the ninth century. © history_docu_photo/Alamy Stock Photo
Stamp showing the papal Swiss Guard and drummers, produced by Switzerland, circa 2005. © Sergey Nezhinkiy/Alamy Stock Photo
“With nearly three hundred popes and antipopes, not to mention a fictitious female pope, among these figures there are a few saints and many sinners. To borrow an ancient image, the Vatican is like Noah’s Ark, containing animals of all kinds, both pure and impure. From the Roman Catholic Church’s earliest developments under Emperor Constantine, to the notorious popes who nevertheless cultivated the artistic flowering of the Renaissance, to modern day pontiffs who must navigate the media and issues of social and political sensitivity, the Vatican has endured through historical upheavals and religious schisms, acquiring an unprecedented level of prestige and carving out a presence for itself on the diplomatic stage.”
A combination of archival images and modern photography illustrates the book.
