Q 01/05

Monaco's entire coastline faces which sea?

A) Adriatic Sea

B) Mediterranean Sea

C) Black Sea

D) Tyrrhenian Sea

Answer · why

B) Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea: short of land, Monaco has built whole new districts out into it, reclaiming ground from the water since the 1960s.

Q 02/05

Monaco is the second-smallest sovereign state in the world; which is the smallest?

A) San Marino

B) Nauru

C) Liechtenstein

D) Vatican City

Answer · why

D) Vatican City

Vatican City would fit inside Monaco more than four times over, yet Monaco itself is smaller than New York's Central Park.

Q 03/05

Which family has ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, since 1297?

A) Bourbon

B) Savoy

C) Grimaldi

D) Medici

Answer · why

C) Grimaldi

Grimaldi rule began in 1297; the family lost the principality to the French revolutionary republic from 1793 to 1814 and regained it under the Treaty ...

Q 04/05

How is 'Malizia' said to have captured Monaco's fortress in 1297?

A) By bribing the garrison

B) Disguised as a Franciscan friar

C) In a night assault by sea

D) By marrying the governor's daughter

Answer · why

B) Disguised as a Franciscan friar

Disguised as a Franciscan friar, the story goes, he was let through the gates and seized the fortress with his men; two sword-bearing friars still fla...

Q 05/05

Monaco was refounded in 1215 as a colony of which maritime republic?

A) Venice

B) Genoa

C) Pisa

D) Amalfi

Answer · why

B) Genoa

Genoa was granted the site by Emperor Henry VI in 1191 and built a fortress there in 1215 to guard its interests along the coast.