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Vatican Gardens, walk between nature and faith.
The gardens of the pontiffs present themselves as a fusion of nature, history and faith.A lush green oasis in the heart of Rome. A garden with a very long history in which to walk while contemplating the beauties of nature. This is how the Vatican Gardens appear, which today are no longer the exclusive prerogative of the Supreme Pontiffs but can be visited by the public in all their splendor. It is worth taking a tour of this elegant green space beyond the walls of the Vatican City, because everything hidden within them, from plants to archaeological and architectural finds, evoke distant times and offer moments of authentic peace at a pace from one of the busiest areas of Rome.
Their surface area occupies more than a third of that of the entire Vatican City State and they are the result of a great work whose realization dates back to the second half of the 13th century, when Pope Niccolò Orsini, endowed with great culture, sensitivity and knowledge of medicinal plants, felt the need to create a lush viridarium novum on the Vatican Hill. From its origins the garden was thought of as a place for the cultivation and care of medicinal plants and for this very reason its care was entrusted to the Papal Archaeologists.
In the eyes of visitors, the Vatican Gardens present themselves, today as then, as a sort of hortus conclusus enclosed by the walls erected in the 16th century, between the pontificates of Pius IV Medici and Pius V Ghisleri, who, with the signing of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, they then became the borders of the small state of Vatican City. However, what can be observed today when visiting them is the result of a long embellishment work carried out over time with the succession of pontiffs who have always used them as a place for meditation and long walks in nature.
Even today, observing them, one can admire and feel that evocative and ancient fusion of art, history and faith that has always distinguished them. In addition to being, in fact, the oldest botanical plant in Italy, approximately two and a half centuries older than the gardens of Padua and Pisa, the Gardens house a devotional path dedicated to the Virgin Mary which winds through box hedges, centuries-old trees and green meadows in an atmosphere full of mysticism.
Mediterranean plants coexist with exotic flowers of the most disparate species and origins and frame precious testimonies dating back to different eras which range from a multitude of fountains and archaeological finds to towers, small houses and ancient walls set in the greenery. All kissed by the warm Roman sun which gives a unique light and warmth to every corner.