How do I send mail from the Vatican Post Office?

With the advent of e-mail, instant messaging, social networks, … It is increasingly rare to receive and send mail to relatives.

The last time I received non-administrative mail, I think it was a wedding announcement.

If you’re visiting Rome, here’s a cheap and original idea of surprise you can do for your relatives: send them a mail from the Vatican Post Office.

The smallest state in the world has its own postal service

The Vatican has three post offices:

• The first one is in the Vatican Museum
• The other two on St. Peter’s Square

You won’t be able to miss the one on the right as you exit St. Peter’s Basilica. It is in this office that we went.

The post office is relatively large since it allows us to buy a wide choice for stamp and coin collectors. Numismatists and philatelists will be delighted.

If you just want to send some mail, go to the counter on the right where everything you need is for sale: postcards, envelopes, stamps and even pens if you don’t have any with you.

We bought an envelope, two postcards and two stamps for France, we got them for 4,95 €.

Tables are available to write your mail.

Once you are ready, you can deposit your mail in one of the yellow boxes at the entrance of the post office.

Be sure to deposit your mail in a yellow box. The red mailboxes are those of the Rome post office and not those of the Vatican. It is unlikely that your mail will arrive if you make a mistake.

We finally received the mail 17 days after it was sent. Note that we were in Covid period and (at least in France) postal delays were longer than normal.