Despite their importance to the history of Western gardens and art, no full-length study of the Vatican Gardens has previously been published. The release of "The Vatican Gardens" - the third in Abbeville's series on Vatican art, which also includes "The Sistine Chapel: A New Vision" and "The Loggia of Raphael" - at last gives these important gardens their full due. Covering the period from the thirteenth century through 1930, when the Vatican became a state, "The Vatican Gardens" explores the plants, planters, and architectural structures of the Gardens in great depth. Also covered are the gardens at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, which dates to the seventeenth century. Illustrated throughout with newly commissioned images and plans as well as historic pictures and diagrams, and featuring original research that establishes the Vatican Gardens as the oldest botanical garden in Italy, this volume will appeal to landscape gardeners, architects, historians, and visitors to Rome.