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In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our weekly Architrivia.
Completed in 1934, the Vatican Railway was but one of many concessions to come from the 1929 Lateran Treaty between Italy and Vatican City, which guaranteed direct papal access to Italy's national rail infrastructure. Part of a a complex, long-running power play between Italy and Papal States, the introduction of what remains today as the world's shortest national rail line, has served Vatican City and the Papacy well ever since, having created a important symbolic - and at times practical - link between the Holy Father and Rome.
Built between 1929 and 1934, during the respective reigns of Pope Pius XI and Mussolini, Vatican Railway Station was designed by famous Italian architect Giuseppe Momo. Able to carry both passenger and freight rail in and out of Vatican City, the 1.27 km spur line enters and exits through the stone walls of Vatican City via a large stone gateway equipped with a sliding metal door.
Outside the Vatican's walls, the rail line crosses atop a purpose-built rail viaduct, as pictured in the archival image below from the November, 1934 edition of Railway Magazine.
While the line is used primarily as a means of importing goods into Vatican City, various Popes have made personal use of it during pilgrimages and other official business, the line having recently been opened to tourists for weekly Saturday service in and out of the Vatican since 2015.
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