History
Pope Gregory XVI (died 1846) prevented the construction of railways in the Papal States, and was reputed to have said "chemin de fer, chemin d'enfer" ("road of iron, road of hell"). Gregory XVI's successor, Pope Pius IX, began the construction of a rail line from Bologna to Ancona but the territory was seized by the armies of the Risorgimento in 1861 before it was completed. The utility of rail travel for the mass pilgrimages of the 19th century, beginning with those at Lourdes circa 1858, was one factor that softened opposition to such technology within the Roman Curia.
The construction of a railway station in Vatican City and its linkage to the Italian rail lines was guaranteed by the Lateran Treaty of February 11, 1929. The Directorate of New Railway Construction of the Ministry of Public Works of the Kingdom of Italy implemented this provision with construction beginning on April 3, 1929, to establish earthworks 38 m above sea level (the height of the "Roma - San Pietro" station) between Piazza Santa Marta and the Palazzo del Governatorato. The construction of the viaduct leading to Vatican City was paid for by the Italian government; the station within the Vatican was financed from the ₤750 million indemnity agreed to in the Lateran Treaty's financial part. The total cost of construction was reported to be ₤24 million.
The station building (see below) was constructed between 1929 and 1933.
The first locomotive entered the Vatican in March 1932. The station was opened officially on October 2, 1934. A Railway Convention was ratified between Italy and Vatican City on September 12, 1934, on which date the property passed from Ferrovie dello Stato (Italian State Railways) to the Holy See. In October 1934 the Ministry of Public Works gave the completed rail lines to Vatican City and Ferrovie dello Stato, respectively. Legge sulle fonti del diritto (June 7, 1929) made Italian railway legislation binding on Vatican-controlled railways.
In late March 1944, during the allied bombing of Rome in World War II, the Vatican discovered a German munitions train stopped on the line by the Vatican railway station.
Read more about this topic: Rail Transport In Vatican City
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