Select your language

  • 100th fountain in Vatican Gardens dedicated to Saint Joseph

    A fascinating unicum

    On Monday, 5 July 2010, during his address for the inauguration of the new fountain in the Vatican Gardens dedicated to Saint Joseph, Benedict XVI said, “It is a work that increases the artistic patrimony of this enchanting green space in Vatican City, full of historical and artistic testimonies of various epochs. Indeed, not only the lawns, the flowers, plants and trees, but also the towers, pavilions, small temples, fountains, statues and other buildings make this garden into a fascinating unicum”.

  • Blessing of Lithuanian Cross in the Vatican Gardens

    During a ceremony on Monday morning, 3 March, Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Coadjutor Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major blessed a wooden Lithuanian Cross in the Vatican Gardens.

  • Inauguration of a mosaic depicting Christ Pantocrator in the Vatican Gardens

    Symbol of the Mission of the Trinitarians

    On Thursday morning, 5 December, a mosaic depicting Christ Pantocrator, made by young people with disabilities and their teachers, was officially inaugurated in the Vatican Gardens. The impressive mosaic was the result of a collaboration with the mosaics laboratory of the Centro di Riabilitazione Ada “Ceschin Pilone” (rehabilitation centre) of the Institute of the Trinitarian Fathers of Venosa-Bernalda. Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, presided over the inauguration ceremony.

  • The Benedictine nuns of the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery

    Prayer and work at the service of the Pope and our brothers and sisters

    Their life and their work

    In response to an invitation by the Holy Father, as of January 2024, the Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Santa Scolastica in Argentina have resumed their ministry of prayer, adoration, lauds and reparations at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, in the Vatican Gardens, to support the Holy Father in his daily care for the whole Church.

  • Tuesday, 15 April: Way of the Cross in the Vatican Gardens

    The traditional Way of the Cross in the Vatican Gardens for employees of the Governorate, will take place during Holy Week, on Tuesday morning, 15 April at 8:15 a.m. The Way of the Cross will begin in the square in front of the Governorate and proceed towards the evocative backdrop of the Lourdes Grotto. Each station will be animated by a representative of each Directorate and Central Office, led by their respective Chaplains. The Via Crucis is organized by the Events Planning Office.


    It will be an opportunity to share a moment of prayer in preparation for Easter, in accordance with Pope Francis’ words in his message for Lent 2025:

    “God is asking us to examine whether in our lives, in our families, in the places where we work and spend our time, we are capable of walking together with others, listening to them, resisting the temptation to become self-absorbed and to think only of our own needs”.

  • Tulips planted in the Vatican Gardens in honour of Saint John Paul II

    Tulips were planted in the Vatican Gardens on Tuesday morning, 22 October, in memory of Saint John Paul II, on the day of his liturgical memorial.

  • Vatican Gardens

    The Gardens have been the place of rest and meditation of Roman Pontiffs since 1279, when Pope Nicholas III (Giovani Gaetano Orsini (1277-1280) moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican. Inside the new walls that he had built to defend his residence, the Pope had an orchard (pomerium) planted, a lawn (pratellum) and a true and proper garden (viridarium), as can be seen in a stone inscription now stored in the Sala dei Capitani (Hall of the Captains) at the Palazzo dei Conservatori at the Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill). This first section was located near the hill of Sant’Egidio, where the Palace of the Belvedere is now located and the courtyard of the Vatican Museums. The area from where visits to the Vatican Gardens begin, instead, is a more recent part of the State, on which new larger Gardens were planted that, along with the original garden, cover half of the roughly 44 hectares that comprise the Vatican.
     

Select your language