Plan and Elevation of the Belvedere Garden of the Vatican Palace

The lower third of Falda's plan shows the Belvedere Court designed in 1505 by Donato Bramante for Pope Julius II (1503-1513) to link the palace with a fifteenth-century villa on the grounds. The small courtyard (no. 9 on the plan) at the lower right housed the incomparable collection of ancient sculpture begun by Pope Julius which included such works as the Laocoon. The view of the garden seems to be from the vantage point of the gallery which frames the court, looking straight across parterres of herbs to the Casino of Pius IV built by the antiquarian architect Pirro Ligorio in the 1560s. The casino was a place of retreat for the pope where he and his companions could contemplate the numerous reliefs and inscriptions that encrusted the walls facing onto the inner courtyard. At the lower left is the Fountain of the Mirrors with its giochi d'acqua or water games. Tricks with fountains that would suddenly drench unsuspecting visitors were a very popular feature in Italian Renaissance gardens.