Pious tradition claim that the foundation site of the Vatican Gardens was spread with sacred soil brought from Mount Calvary by Empress Saint Helena[3][4] to symbolically unite the blood of Jesus Christ with that shed by thousands of early Christians, who died in the persecutions of Emperor Nero Caesar Augustus.

[5] In 1279, Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, 1277–1280) moved his residence back to the Vatican from the Lateran Palace and enclosed this area with walls.

[8] Also in Renaissance style, a great rectangular Labyrinth, formal in design, set in boxwood and framed with Italian stone pines, (Pinus pinea) and cedars of Lebanon, (Cedrus libani).

The sculpture, designed by Enrico Quattrini and painted by Leopoldo Celani, is still one of the most venerated today in the Basilica of Loreto, in the Marche region.

In October 2017 the professionals involved in the restoration conducted a study to consider, from a scientific point of view, modern methods and eco-sustainable techniques in application to the conservation of the artifacts over time.

There are a variety of fountains cooling the gardens, sculptures, an artificial grotto devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes, and an Olive tree donated by the government of Israel.