.va

Overview

.va is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Vatican City State. It is intended for entities connected with the Vatican and is administered by the Vatican Internet Service (part of the Dicastery for Communication) under the sponsorship of the Holy See and the Secretariat of State.

History

• Delegation and root-zone implementation: 11 September 1995.
• The .va domain was created through the initiative of Archbishop John (Joseph) Patrick Foley of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
• The Vatican's primary website (vatican.va) went live on Christmas Day 1995.
• Management: administered by the Vatican Internet Service / Dicastery for Communication (Holy See).

Usage and Audience

• Primary audience: official organs and institutions of the Holy See and Vatican City State.
• The .va space is used for Vatican websites and email services associated with official Vatican entities.
• Scope in the zone: there are 86 domain names starting with "www" in the .va zone, plus many additional email-only subdomains.

Registration Rules

• No public registrations: domain registrations under .va are not available to the general public.
• Strict regulation: use is confined to official Vatican/Holy See organizations to maintain authenticity and control.
• Dispute policy: None (registrations are restricted to Vatican administration).

SEO and Brand Impact

• Authenticity and trust: the .va TLD is used to signal official, authenticated content from the Holy See; this purpose was an explicit motivation for obtaining the ccTLD.
• Brand positioning: reserved, official namespace that reinforces Vatican authority and provenance of published material.

Notable Cases or Examples

Examples of domains and services using .va (selected from the .va zone):

• Main sites: vatican.va (primary site), www.vatican.va
• Vatican State government: www.vaticanstate.va
• Vatican newspaper: www.osservatoreromano.va
• Vatican Museums and related pages: www.museivaticani.va, www.sistinechapel.va, mv.vatican.va
• Financial institution: www.ior.va
• Media and communication: www.radiovaticana.va, www.news.va
• Other: photo.va (photo ordering), benedettoxvi.va / benedictumxvi.va (papal pages), asv.vatican.va (Vatican Archives), bav.vatican.va (Vatican Library), webmail.mailservice.va (Vatican webmail)

(These examples illustrate the domain's exclusive use for Vatican institutions and services.)

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       VA

organisation: Holy See - Vatican City State
address:      Governatorato S.C.V.
address:      Vatican City Vatican City State V-00120
address:      Holy See (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Director
organisation: Department of Telecommunications
address:      Palazzo del Belvedere
address:      Vatican City Vatican City State V-00120
address:      Holy See (the)
phone:        +39 (06) 69890153
fax-no:       +39 (06) 69885299
e-mail:       direzione.tlc@scv.va

contact:      technical
name:         Responsible of the Vatican Internet Service Provider
organisation: Department of Telecommunications - Vatican Internet Service Provider
address:      Cortile del Triangolo
address:      Vatican City
address:      Vatican City Vatican City State V-00120
address:      Holy See (the)
phone:        +39 (06) 69890506
fax-no:       +39 (06) 69882934
e-mail:       dnsop@net.va

nserver:      A.NIC.VA 212.77.0.110 2a01:b8:0:1:212:77:0:110
nserver:      B.NIC.VA 212.77.0.2 2a01:b8:0:1:212:77:0:2
nserver:      C.NIC.VA 212.77.2.58 2a01:b8:0:0:0:0:2:3a
nserver:      OSIRIS.NAMEX.IT 193.201.40.6 2a0f:80:1:0:0:0:0:6
nserver:      SETH.NAMEX.IT 193.201.40.7 2a0f:80:1:0:0:0:0:7

whois:        

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: 

created:      1995-09-11
changed:      2024-12-03
source:       IANA