The Vatican Gardens

The Vatican Gardens have served as the pope’s private gardens since the late 13th century when Pope Nicholas III moved his residence back to the Vatican from the Lateran Palace. Since its relative humble beginnings as an orchard, lawn and garden, it has expanded through the centuries to include numerous statues, fountains and gardens inspired by English, French and Italian Renaissance landscape architecture.

Although there have been vineyards and orchards in this area since medieval times, the Vatican Gardens were first enclosed in 1279 when Pope Nicolas III returned to the Vatican to make it the official papal residence. In the early 16th century, Pope Julius II was involved in a major re-design of the Vatican Gardens when he employed the expertise of Donato Bramante, leading to the creation of the Vatican’s two best-known courtyards — the Belvedere and Pinecone Courtyards.

Besides composing nearly half of all the Vatican city-state and being founded with the same soil that Jesus Christ once walked on, this is also a UNESCO World Heritage site that has been open to the public for less than a decade. Entry to the Vatican Gardens is limited and only possible as part of a guided tour, so it provides a pleasant escape from the crowds in St. Peter’s Square and the rest of the Vatican.

In the geological center of Vatican City, you’ll find a monument dedicated to Saint Peter. When viewed from the west, St. Peter’s Basilica provides an appropriate backdrop to this monument of the first pope. Whether on a bus tour or walking tour, you’ll be able to appreciate this monument from all sides and get a less common snapshot of St. Peter’s Basilica with the gardens in the foreground.

In front of the Palace of the Governorate, you’ll find a meticulously arranged flower bed representing the Papal Coat of Arms. Each time a new pope is elected, the papal gardeners must plant a new collection of decorative plants to match the current papal coat of arms. Today, there are thousands of yellow-green Euonymus Pulchellus, red begonias and bluemink flowers in the form of Pope Francis’s crest.

First planted in the 16th century during the Italian Renaissance, this section of the gardens includes a labyrinth and a rose garden. Among the shaded paths, you can appreciate the geometric layout of the shrubs punctuated by several fountains. If you look into the distance from the rose garden, you can see the delicate hills of the Castelli Romani before making your way to the French and English style gardens.

Located on the highest point of the Vatican Gardens, this is a replica of the grotto constructed in the small town of Lourdes, France after a young girl was reported to have seen the Virgin Mary in 1858. As the most important and most impressive of all the Virgin Mary shrines, every year in May, pilgrims walk through the gardens in a candelit procession to the Lourdes Grotto in honor of the Virgin Mary.

In the geological center of Vatican City, you’ll find a monument dedicated to Saint Peter. When viewed from the west, St. Peter’s Basilica provides an appropriate backdrop to this monument of the first pope. Whether on a bus tour or walking tour, you’ll be able to appreciate this monument from all sides and get a less common snapshot of St. Peter’s Basilica with the gardens in the foreground.

Also called the Galea Fountain, or the Fontana della Galera, this fountain is one of the least-known, but most impressive fountains in all of Rome. The centerpiece of the fountain is an intricately-detailed replica of a warship of the papal fleet. The lead miniature of the galleon has all the features of a real warship with sails, mast, rigging and even dozens of cannons — in this case, shooting forth water instead of cannonballs.