If all roads lead there, why can't People magazine find it?

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jun 28, 2010

People magazine, with its usual breathless excitement, lets us know that American film starlet Mena Suvari was “married Saturday in a private church in Vatican City, Italy.” 

Say what?!

First of all, if it’s “Vatican City,” then it’s not “Italy.” While the Vatican city-state is completely surrounded by Italian territory, the Vatican is an independent state, not part of Italy. The proper address would be “Vatican City, Europe.”

But that’s the proper address only if the wedding actually did take place within the Vatican. Did it? Not likely. The reference to a “private church” is a giveaway, don’t you think? There are private chapels inside the Vatican, but they’re not generally available for wedding dates.

The mystery is clarified by the report that this “private church” was chosen because it is just around the corner from the boyhood home of Suvari’s groom, Simone Sestito. Unless the lad grew up inside the Vatican—and that’s not likely either—they’re talking about a city adjacent to the Vatican. A city called Rome.

Best wishes to the happy couple. For the People editorial staff, a suggestion: Buy an atlas.