Pontifical domain

State of the Church
Stato della Chiesa Status Ecclesiae
754–1870 Interregna (1798–1799, 1809–1814 and 1849)
Flag in 1870 Coat of arms until 19th century
Anthem Noi vogliam Dio, Vergine Maria (1815–1857) (Italian) "We want God, Virgin Mary" Marcia trionfale (1857–1870) (Italian) "Great Triumphal March"
The Papal States in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars
Map of the Papal States (green) in 1700, including its exclaves of Benevento and Pontecorvo in Southern Italy, and the Comtat Venaissin and Avignon in Southern France.
Capital		Rome
Languages		Latin, Italian, Occitan
Religion		Roman Catholic
Government		Theocratic absolute elective monarchy
Pope
•	754–757	Stephen II (first)
•	1846–1870	Pius IX (last)
Cardinal Secretary of State
•	1551–1555	Girolamo Dandini (first)
•	1848–1870	Giacomo Antonelli (last)
Prime Minister
•	1848	Gabriele Ferretti (first)
•	1848	Giuseppe Galletti (last)
History
•	Establishment	754
•	Codification	781
•	Treaty of Venice (Independence from the Holy Roman Empire)	1177
•	1st Disestablishment	February 15, 1798
•	Schönbrunn Palace Declarations	May 17, 1809
•	2nd Disestablishment	September 20, 1870
•	Vatican City	February 11, 1929
Currency		Papal States scudo (until 1866) Papal States lira (1866–1870)
Preceded by Succeeded by Byzantine Empire Kingdom of Italy (medieval) Roman Republic (18th century) First French Empire Roman Republic (19th century) Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) Roman Republic (18th century) First French Empire Roman Republic (19th century) Kingdom of Italy Prisoner in the Vatican
Today part of		France  Italy   Vatican City

The Papal States, officially the State of the Church (Italian: Stato della Chiesa, Italian pronunciation: ['stato 'della ki.'ɛza]; Latin: Status Ecclesiae), were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio (which includes Rome), Marche, Umbria and Romagna, and portions of Emilia. These holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy.

By 1861, much of the Papal States' territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy. Only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Pope's temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, not even the Vatican. Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Holy See by signing the Lateran Treaty in 1929, thus granting the Vatican City State sovereignty.

The Papal States were also known as the Papal State (although the plural is usually preferred, the singular is equally correct as the polity was more than a mere personal union). The territories were also referred to variously as the State(s) of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States (Italian: Stato Pontificio, also Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa, Stati Pontifici, and Stato Ecclesiastico; Latin: Status Pontificius, also Dicio Pontificia).