Italy: How to send a letter from Vatican City

Rome: While on vacation in Rome many tourists enquire about sending a postcard from Vatican City with a Vatican stamp, either as a souvenir for themselves or as a novel gesture to family or friends back home.

Established in 1929, the Vatican postal system has a reputation of being one of the most efficient in the world.

The Vatican Post Office is open to everyone, for sending mail both inside and outside Vatican City, just make sure you use the yellow post box for Vatican mail and not a red post box for Italian mail.

The central Vatican post office is located inside the gates of S. Anna and is reserved for Vatican employees.

However there is an official Vatican post office open to everyone located under the colonnade to the right-hand side of St Peter’s Square, open Monday to Saturday from 08.30 until 18.30.

It is also possible to buy stamps, including special limited edition sets, in the gift shop on the other side of Piazza S. Pietro, and there is even a white mobile post office stationed in the square.

Holy See stamps, including collectors’ editions, can be purchased inside the Vatican Museums too, and regular Vatican stamps are also on sale at the giftshop in the Basilica of St John Lateran, which has Vatican extraterritorial status.

Vatican stamps can also be purchased in the souvenir shop at the Basilica of St Paul’s outside the Walls which has its own Vatican postbox.