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Group Vatican Gardens Tour
The Vatican Garden tour is a special tour offered by certified Vatican Guide. It takes the visitor through 2000 years of history. Besides the natural beauty of the gardens, the Vatican City is rich in monuments and precious works of art.
Over fifty acres of gardens separate the Vatican from the secular world
- filled with winding paths, brilliantly colored flowers, groves of
massive oaks, ancient fountains and pools and medieval fortifications
from the 9th century to the present.
Lofty palms and other
plants from as far away as Australia and Brazil thrive in an harmonious
blend of styles, cultures and eclectic botany that has defined the
Vatican Gardens since the Renaissance.
Medieval fortifications,
buildings and monuments from the ninth century to the present day are
set amid flower beds and topiary, green lawns and a lush four-acre
patch of forest. Paved roads and gravel paths link ornamental sections
in various horticultural styles including an elegant Italian
Renaissance estate, a flowery French park and a naturalistic English
landscape.
A variety of fountains spread a veil of freshness
over the gardens while sculpture and artificial grottoes proclaim
devotion to the Madonna, and an olive tree donated by the government of
Israel extends its three verdant branches. From many points in the
garden, Michelangelo's majestic dome crowning St. Peter's Basilica can
be glimpsed through the foliage.
Painstakingly maintained by 30
full-time gardeners, the gardens take up about one-third of the Vatican
City, the world's smallest sovereign state.
Other features
include a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes and a section of the Berlin
Wall. There is also a long-ruined wall built in the ninth century to
protect St. Peter's from further raids by marauding invaders and a
small kitchen garden which provides lettuces, tomatoes and other
vegetables for the pope's table.
The Vatican gardens are one of the greatest garden realms of the world.
The
Vatican Mosaic Studio opened in the 16th century. It checks and
restores the ten thousand square meters of mosaic in Saint Peter’s
Basilica. Precious mosaics issue continuously from its laboratory for
private customers or for the Pope, who frequently makes gifts of them
during official visits. The visit of the Mosaic Workshop will remain as
one of the most memorable experiences in Rome.
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