Vatican Gardens

The Vatican Gardens are a beautiful area of nature, art and spirituality in the Vatican City. They cover about half of the territory of the Vatican State and contain several historical and architectural monuments, such as the Casina of Pius IV, the Lourdes Grotto and the Adlerbrunnen. The gardens date back to the Middle Ages, when Pope Nicholas III had them created as a walled orchard and vegetable garden. Later they were embellished by various popes, who added Renaissance and Baroque styles3. The gardens are an oasis of peace and beauty, where you can enjoy the diversity of flora and fauna, and the artistic and religious significance of the place.

The gardens have been a place of rest and meditation for the Roman Pontiff since 1279, when Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, 1277-1280) moved the papal residence from the Lateran to the Vatican. Within the new walls built to defend the residence, the Pope had an orchard (pomerium), a lawn (pratellum) and a real garden (viridarium) created, as can be seen from a stone inscription now kept in the Capitoline Conservatories' Palace. This first nucleus was built near the hill of Sant'Egidio, where the Belvedere Palace and the courtyards of the Vatican Museums are now located. The area from which the visit to the Vatican Gardens now begins, however, is in the more modern part of the State, where the new large gardens were created, which together with those of the original nucleus cover about half of the 44 hectares that make up the Vatican.