It feels good to bypass the throngs of tourists in the Vatican Museum and escape to the grounds behind it. The Vatican Gardens are 49 acres of solitude tucked in the hustle and bustle of Vatican City.
Our tour guide to the Vatican Gardens continually counted heads; she couldn't afford to lose one of us in this restricted area. Regardless, there is an unexpected sense of freedom in this barricaded place of spiritual serenity.
The Vatican Gardens are not on most Rome tourist maps. Tours are limited, and a very advance reservation is needed to snag a spot to see the papal landscaping.
They are filled with Catholic Church history, as well as horticulture. This is the pope's green space and has been since 1279, when Pope Nicholas III moved his residence back to the Vatican.
According to church records, he planted an orchard (pomerium), a lawn (pratellum) and a garden (viridarium).
Since then, many popes have added plantings and landscaping to the area.
Much of it was established during the Renaissance and Baroque times and reflects that lavishness, with fountains, elaborate tilework and statues. Stone walls, probably handmade, border the north, south and west sides.
The garden has an international flair - the French garden, the English garden, and of course the formal, boxwood-hedge-filled Italian garden and hundreds of sculptures.
Here are just a few highlights from the tour:
-- Current Pope Benedict XVI is a regular garden visitor; he can be found walking there at 3 p.m. if he's on the premises. His coat of arms, which includes a Bavarian bear, is part of a garden tile bench.
-- Although not all of the plants are identified, the markers are, of course, in Latin.
-- Only 25 gardeners tend to the acres, using all sorts of mowers, blowers and edgers to keep it pristine. Because of the temperate climate, flowers still bloom well into early winter.
-- Set inside the medieval walls is a heliport. Built during Pope Paul VI's time, it is a very secure way to transport the pope to and from the Vatican.
-- Another oddly modern touch is an olive tree. The plant was a gift from the government of Israel to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
-- The papal coat of arms is the most-used symbol in the Vatican Garden. It is everywhere, from sculptures on terra cotta pots to topiaries.
-- Water for the garden comes from a dug-in water cistern, which can hold up to 8 million liters of water. This provides irrigation, fills the fountains and is used in case of fire.
Although the tour is more concerned with accurate papal history than with plant identification, it is a wonderful glimpse of the green space in the smallest independent nation in the world.
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