Garden of Earthly Delights
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At the three-tiered Giardini del Belvedere, a group of formal gardens at the papal palace at Castel Gandolfo, the second level hosts sunken koi ponds and a fountain where classical aquatic deities fill a trio of niches.
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A balcony overlooks the hedge-enclosed Piazzale Quadrato, at whose center sits an equestrian statue of Septimius Severus, the last emperor to use the ancient Roman villa that once stood here.
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On their visits to Castel Gandolfo, popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI would often pause in the Giardino della Madonna, in front of a 20th-century statue of the Virgin Mary.
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The first tier of the Giardini del Belvedere features perfectly pruned parterres punctuated by colorful flowers.
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A Roman figure occupies a niche in one of the iris-planted grottolike pools of the nymphaeum—a vestige of the ancient imperial villa—that today forms one side of the Viale dei Ninfei.
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Cypresses surround the citrus garden’s potted orange and lemon trees and filigreed parterres.