Papal Gardens in the Vatican City, the Italian Garden.

Papal Gardens in the Vatican City, box hedged Italian Garden. The trimmed boxwood and formal symmetry of the ‘classic’ Italian garden.

The Vatican Gardens have been a place of quiet and meditation for the popes since 1279 when Nicholas III (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, 1277-1280) moved his residence back to the Vatican from the Lateran Palace. Within the new walls, which he had built to protect his residence, he planted an orchard (pomerium), a lawn (pratellum) and a garden (viridarium). The garden follows the contours of the hill behind St. Peter’s, a hill which is part natural, part man-made. The man-made part is all the earth that was excavated to make room for the basilica and piled on top of the existing hill.

The Italian Renaissance garden was a new style of garden which emerged in the late 15th century at villas in Rome and Florence, inspired by classical ideals of order and beauty, and intended for the pleasure of the view of the garden and the landscape beyond, for contemplation, and for the enjoyment of the sights, sounds and smells of the garden itself.
In the late Renaissance, the gardens became larger, grander and more symmetrical, and were filled with fountains, statues, grottoes, water organs and other features designed to delight their owners and amuse and impress visitors. The style was imitated throughout Europe, influencing the gardens of the French Renaissance and the English garden.

more on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_of_Vatican_City , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Renaissance_garden