326 First church built on the site of Vatican City, traditional place of Saint Peter's tomb.
846 August: Arab pirates sack the Vatican.
1626 The new St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is consecrated, the anniversary of that of the previous church in 326.
1860 Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia seizes the whole of the Papal States except Rome (see Vatican City) and unites Italy.
1861 First issue of Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano was published.
1881 Some Vatican archives opened to scholars for the first time
1929 Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty
1929 The Lateran Treaty, making Vatican City a sovereign state, is ratified
1932 Pope Pius XI meets Benito Mussolini in the Vatican City
1960 December 2
1966 Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican - the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union.
1984 The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
1984 The Peace and Friendship Treaty is signed between Argentina and Chile in Vatican City.