Vatican Garden Tickets & Tours

Gardens of the Vatican City

Within Rome’s papal state lies the Gardens of Vatican City or Giardini Vaticani. Spread over 57 acres, this area has a Renaissance layout, adorned with sculptures, fountains, monuments, botanicals, and buildings that date as far back as the 6th Century. The Vatican Gardens are rarely crowded due to their limited-entry policy. While these manicured grounds are the perfect place in the city to enjoy some peace, it is also the place where you can get some of the best views of the St Peter’s Basilica Dome the twin cities of Rome and Vatican City.

Why Take a Vatican Gardens Tour?

• In 1279 when Pope Nicholas III shifted his residence to the Vatican from the Lateran Place, he closed the area with walls and created an orchard, a meadow, and a garden; this is now open to the public in the form of the Vatican Gardens.
• While strolling through the diverse and serene paths of the Vatican Gardens, you can identify not just Italian influences, but French and English as well.
• Italian style includes the unique geometrical designs doused with a Renaissance touch.
• While the French garden differentiates its great expression in the classic baroque art, enhanced by statues and water games, the English garden showcases numerous features with natural and artificial elements such as caves, streams, trees, pagodas, temples, and ruins.
• Besides being a visual feast, visiting the Vatican Gardens also offers a unique opportunity to get a glimpse of the everyday life of the papal state.

History of Vatican Gardens In a Nutshell

• The Vatican Gardens date back to medieval times when orchards and vineyards extended north of the Papal Apostolic Palace.
• In 1279, when Pope Nicholas III in 1279 moved his residence to the Vatican from the Lateran Palace, he had the area enclosed with walls. He created an orchard, a meadow, and a garden.
• At the beginning of the 16th century, during the papacy of Julius II, the Vatican Gardens went through some remodeling. As per the original design of Donato Bramante, the Garden was divided into three new courtyards: the Cortile del Belvedere, the Library Courtyard, and the Cortile della Pigna, following a Renaissance landscape style.
• In 1921 a fire broke out inside the sanctuary of the Basilica of Loreto. A statue of the Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of Loreto, commissioned by Pope Pius XI in 1922 was destroyed.
• Since the end of 2014, the various stone artifacts in the gardens have been going through restorations and conservation.

What are the Vatican Gardens Today?

Spread over nearly 23 hectares, the Vatican Gardens is a botanical garden that is home to many medieval fortifications, buildings and monuments of the Renaissance and the Baroque, apart from vibrant flower beds and topiary, green lawns, and 3 hectares of forest. You will also find a variety of fountains, sculptures, an artificial grotto devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes, and an Olive tree donated by the government of Israel.