License plate (Vatican City)

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License plate for official company vehicles (rear license plate without embossed seal)
Front registration number for citizens and employees of the Vatican
License plates for cardinals

The Vatican City has had its own registration system since 1930 . Since fewer than 500 vehicles are registered in the Vatican, it is rare to see a vehicle from the smallest country in the world, and when it does, it is in Rome .

The nationality symbol V is almost never seen on vehicles due to the relatively clear license plates. As in Italy , the Vatican number plates are slightly smaller at the front than at the rear of the vehicle.

history

The first Vatican City license plates were issued from 1930, a year after the Lateran Treaty was signed . The license plates consisted of the letters SCV ( lat. Status Civitatis Vaticanæ "Vatican City") and a three-digit number in black letters on a white background. This color combination has never been changed to this day.

For motorcycles and tractors, the number was prefixed with a zero. The format of the signs was different and was not standardized until 1960 when the format was adapted to the Italian license plates (267 × 62 mm in front, 275 × 200 mm in the back). From 1982 single-line rear license plates in the format 300 × 100 mm were issued.

From 1988 the license plates were divided into two categories. State and official vehicles kept the previous code SCV , private vehicles now received the code CV ( Italian: Città del Vaticano "Vatican City") and a five-digit number, starting from 00001 . The Vatican plates are still the same as the Italian plates from 1985-1994.

The license plates have been made of Plexiglas since 2011 and the format has again been adapted to the Italian license plates (340 × 115 mm at the front, 486 × 109 mm at the back). The cardinals' company cars and private vehicles have license plates in red on a white background. The Pope 's official vehicles , there are around 60 worldwide, all have the same registration number SCV 1 .

Others

Volkswitz found the following explanation for the letters SCV: "Si Christ vidisset" (Latin: "if Christ had seen that") / "Se Cristo vedesse" (ita: "if Christ saw / would have seen it") - and in the reverse of the letters: “vi caccerebbe subito” (“he would immediately drive you to the devil ”).

Web links

Commons : License plates from the Vatican  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files