Of course you’ve heard of the Vatican. You have very possibly even been there. We want in this post to write about the Vatican Gardens, which are much less well-known than the treasures in the museum – but no less impressive! The Gardens occupy basically half of the country that is Vatican City (57 acres in total), and they include a wee train station and helioport, as well as the governmental building. They’ve also only been open to the public since 2014, when Pope Francis decided to share them with the world.
A couple of practical matters: you cannot enter the gardens without a tour. The tours take either an hour in a bus or two hours walking, and they include entrance into the Sistine Chapel. From there, once the tour is over, you can go into the Vatican Museums or into St. Peter’s Basilica (but not both, without standing in lines again). You will not have a guide in the museum part, although your guide will get you to the Sistine Chapel. This is a way into one or the other that helps you avoid the long lines. Also – pro tip: Vatican Garden tours don’t sell out as quickly, so if you can’t get tickets any other way, this is your way into the Museum.
The gardens have been part of the Vatican since the 13th century, when the papal seat was moved there. (At that time they were mostly orchards and vineyards.) The Gardens are massive, and your tour will only cover part of them. But that is sure to include the rose garden, parts of the English, French and Italian Gardens, the several grottoes, some fountains (of the more than 100 on the grounds), and villas, one or another set of fortifications, and the outside of the former Vatican radio station. (Fun fact: Guglielmo Marconi was part of the first Vatican Radio broadcast, on Feb 12, 1931.)
The Vatican Gardens also include plenty of flowers and a forest. (Fun fact: Ste. Terese of Lisieux is the patron saint of the Gardens.) In addition, the Gardens contain 18 venerated images of the Virgin Mary, most of them donated by other nations. These include, most impressively, an exact reproduction of the grotto at Lourdes.
Bus tour or walking tour? For us this was easy, as we are big fans of the long walk. But parts of the walk are slippery, steep, and/or unsuitable for those with mobility issues. And the bus tour is distinctly more efficient, taking less than half the time. There is an audio guide for the bus, so no opportunities for human interaction. And the bus does not let you out at any point, which may make taking pictures more difficult. But if you are in a hurry, facing inclement weather, and/or don’t want to walk, the bus is a great choice.
One of the things we liked most about the walking tour was that they are in the morning. So it was not yet super-crowded in the museum.
After the garden tour, we went through a couple of Vatican galleries on the way to the Sistine Chapel, and our guide pointed out some of her favourite things. The Sistine Chapel is indescribable, so we won’t even bother with it here! Neither of us had seen it fully restored, and it was spectacular. Also, a lot more colourful than we’d expected. We spent far more time looking at it than we had planned, craning our necks and stepping on other people’s toes along with everyone else.
So if you are planning a visit to the Vatican – and you certainly should be if you’re within 500 miles of Rome! – we highly recommend starting with a tour of the Vatican Gardens. It will be a peaceful little oasis before you step into the mass of humanity that is the rest of the Vatican.
