Both Allied and Axis bombers made some effort not to attack the Vatican when bombing Rome. However, Vatican City was bombed on at least two occasions, once by the British and once by the Germans. November 5, 1943 On November 5, 1943, a single plane dropped four bombs on the Vatican, destroying a mosaic studio near the Vatican railway station and breaking the windows of the high cupola of St. Peter's, and nearly destroying Vatican Radio. There were no fatalities. Damage from the raid is still visible. March 1, 1944 There is no obscurity about the identity of the British plane that dropped bombs on the edge of Vatican City on 1 March 1944 as this was explicitly acknowledged, at least in private, by the British Air Ministry as an accidental bombing when one of its aircraft on a bombing raid over Rome dropped its bombs too close to the Vatican wall. Notes References Döge, F.U. (2004) "Die militärische und innenpolitische Entwicklung in Italien 1943-1944", Chapter 11, in: Pro- und antifaschistischer Neorealismus. PhD Thesis, Free University, Berlin. 960 p. [in German] Failmezger, Victor(2020) "Rome: City in Terror". Oxford; Osprey Publishing. Jackson, W.G.F. (1969) The Battle for Rome. London: Batsford. Katz, R. (2003) The Battle for Rome: The Germans, the Allies, the Partisans, and the Pope, September 1943 – June 1944. New York : Simon & Schuster. Kurzman, D. (1975) The Race for Rome. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. Lytton, H.D. (1983) "Bombing Policy in the Rome and Pre-Normandy Invasion Aerial Campaigns of World War II: Bridge-Bombing Strategy Vindicated – and Railyard-Bombing Strategy Invalidated". Military Affairs. 47 (2: April). p. 53–58 Murphy, P.I. and Arlington, R.R. (1983) La Popessa: The Controversial Biography of Sister Pasqualina, the Most Powerful Woman in Vatican History. New York: Warner Books Inc. Roosevelt, F.D. Pius XII, Pope and Taylor, M.C. (ed.) [1947] (2005) Wartime Correspondence Between President Roosevelt and Pope Pius XII. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger. Trevelyan, R. 1982. Rome '44: The Battle for the Eternal City. New York: Viking. Further reading (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2007) External links Bombing of Rome documents at FDR presidential library Collection of documents related to Australian bishops and the bombing of Rome World War II strategic bombing Military history of Italy during World War II 1940s in Rome Pope Pius XII and World War II 1940s in Italy 1943 in Vatican City 1944 in Vatican City 1943 in Italy