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.

 

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