Vatican · 90 years of Vatican City

Issue date7 May 2019

Total mintage84,000

EU maximum91,000

Editions3

Edge lettering2 ★ × 6, alternately upright/inverted

InscriptionCITTÀ DEL VATICANO / 1929 / 2019 / FUSCO

DesignerDaniela Fusco (Maria Angela Cassol)

mintInstituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, Roma

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Vatican City State. The design features Pope Pius XI, who was installed as the sovereign of the state in 1929, as well as the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. It is completed by the inscription “CITTÀ DEL VATICANO”, the years “1929” and “2019”, and the name of the artist “FUSCO”.

The design

The commemorative coin depicts Pope Pius XI (installed as sovereign of the Vatican City State in 1929) and the Lateran Basilica in Rome. Above the pope’s portrait, the issuing state “CITTÀ DEL VATICANO” is inscribed in a semicircle from left to right. The years “1929” and “2019” are inscribed at the bottom, with the artist’s name “FUSCO” below.

The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.

Background on the topic

The creation of Vatican City (Vatikanstadt) is connected with the “Roman Question” (Römische Frage). In 1870, troops of the Kingdom of Italy captured Rome, bringing an end to the Papal States (Kirchenstaat), over which the popes had previously exercised temporal rule. Pope Pius IX did not recognize the arrangement concerning his position that Italy had offered unilaterally. For several decades, it therefore remained unclear how the legal relationship between the Italian state and the Holy See should be structured.

The Lateran Treaties (Lateranverträge), concluded on 11 February 1929 between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy, provided a solution. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri signed on behalf of the Holy See, and Benito Mussolini on behalf of the Italian government. The treaty package comprised a political treaty, a concordat and a financial convention. Italy recognized the sovereignty of the newly created small state. In return, the Holy See accepted the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital. The financial agreement regulated compensation for the loss of the Papal States, while the concordat governed relations between the state and the Catholic Church in Italy.

Pius XI’s civil name was Achille Ratti. Before his election as pope in 1922, he was, among other positions, Prefect of the Vatican Library, papal diplomat in Poland and Archbishop of Milan. During his pontificate, the Lateran Treaties established the constitutional and legal basis of Vatican City (Vatikanstadt) that remains in force today.

The Basilica of Saint John Lateran (Lateranbasilika) is not located within Vatican City (Vatikanstadt). It is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome and, as property of the Holy See, has a special extraterritorial status. The adjacent Lateran Palace (Lateranpalast) and the treaties concluded there also bear its name. The signing took place in the Lateran Palace; the basilica in the coin design thus refers to the location and the ecclesiastical context of the agreement. The anniversary provided an occasion to commemorate the treaty settlement of the Roman Question and the creation of the present state order of the Holy See.