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Twenty-seven years in the making, The Gardens of the Vatican is a private photographic tour of eight centuries of green thoughts in a green shade. Reflecting the general history of gardening, the several gardens in the Vatican span worlds the Persian-influenced quadrant gardens of the Teuton Cemetery and the Secret garden adorned with lemon-trees in pots are joined by gardens in the Italian, French, and English styles. The book is also rich in anecdote and detail Pope John XXIII liked to ramble along the pathways and chat with the gardeners whereas his predecessor, Pius XII, wanted solitude, so the gardeners were obliged to hide. There is a fragment of the Berlin Wall, a Chinese pavilion given by the Catholics of that country, and a gnarled old olive tree transplanted from Gethsemane in the Holy Land.