The Sovereign Military Order of Malta consists of several small extraterritorial areas in Rome. It is considered to be the smallest sovereign state in the world.

The Knights of Malta, an order of the Roman Catholic Church, was established as the Knights Hospitaller in Jerusalem in 1099. Its purpose was to give assistance to Christians visiting the Holy Land. The Knights fought in the Holy Wars, were eventually displaced by the Turks and established headquarters in Rhodes and later in Malta. They eventually found their home in Rome.

Francesco, IK0FVC, has managed to gain permission for several DXpeditions to this elusive DX entity over the last few years. One operation was surrounded in confusion, as it was initially announced to be a major effort, but later one of the operators announced it had only been active for a handful of hours. I really was afraid I'd worked a pirate!