Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City
The Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State is the gendarmerie, or military police and security force, of Vatican City, Holy See and its extraterritorial properties. It was founded in 1816 as Corps of Gendarmes by Pope Pius VII, renamed the Central Security Office in 1970, the Security Corps in 1991, and was restored to its original name in 2002.
The headdress for the Gendarmerie is a Kepi cap (similar to this French example). The current Gendarmerie one has the Vatican City State badge.
Vatican gendarme standing guard
Vatican police officers Saint Peter's square, in shirt sleeves every-day uniform (October 2014)
A Gendarmerie car in the Vatican Gardens
Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State, is a landlocked sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and it is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity under international law, which maintains the city-state's temporal power and governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope, Holy See, and Roman Curia.
Vatican City
The Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square was brought to Rome from Egypt by Caligula
Musicians of the British Army's 38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944
View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome