
Monaco is a sovereign city-state on the Mediterranean coast of the French Riviera, surrounded on land by France.
The Principality of Monaco occupies a narrow, hilly strip of the Riviera near the Italian border and is the smallest sovereign state after Vatican City. It has been ruled by the House of Grimaldi since the late thirteenth century. Visitors head for the Monte-Carlo casino, the Prince's Palace on the old-town rock, the Oceanographic Museum and the Formula 1 street circuit.