The Holy Empire of Madonna di San Simone is a colossal, efficient nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, triple-decker prams, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 3.904 billion Madonna di San Simoneans enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Jerusalem. The average income tax rate is 46.7%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Madonna di San Simonean economy, worth 310 trillion Joys of Heaven a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Cheese Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 79,644 Joys of Heaven, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

Every new building project has to undergo a five-year environmental impact study before it can go ahead, citizens are regularly found digging for treasure in their gardens, youth rights demonstrations often end in vicious snowball fights, and election ballot papers are so long that unused ones are recycled as toilet roll. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Madonna di San Simone's national animal is the Cherubim, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Catholicism.

Madonna di San Simone is ranked 196,983^rd in the world and 3^rd in Catholic Art Gallery for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 6,034.11 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.