Where the Popes Lived for a Thousand Years
Stand in the middle of Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano and turn in a slow circle. The palace in front of you, on the Caelian Hill, is the Lateran Palace — the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran — and it holds one of the longest stories in Rome. From the fourth century it was the principal residence of the popes, and it remained so for roughly a thousand years before the Apostolic Residence moved to the Vatican. The estate began with the wealthy Laterani family, passed through the hands of Constantine the Great, and was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome, it is believed during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades. By the tenth century, after Sergius III restored it from a disastrous fire and Innocent III embellished it, the palace reached its greatest magnificence — Dante speaks of it as beyond all human achievements. What you see today is not that building. After waves of construction and destruction, the palace was rebuilt from the 1580s to the designs of Domenico Fontana under Sixtus V: a rectangular building with a central courtyard, smaller than the medieval palace it replaced. Following the Lateran Treaty of 1929, signed in this very palace, it and the adjoining basilica became extraterritorial properties of the Holy See.
The Vatican Historical Museum and the Papal Apartment
The palace is now used by the Vatican Historical Museum, which illustrates the history of the Papal States; since 1987 the main floor has housed it. It also holds the offices of the Diocese of Rome and the residential apartments of the Cardinal Vicar, the pope's delegate for the daily administration of the diocese. A monumental staircase leads to the papal apartment: ten rooms and a chapel frescoed by late Mannerist painters, including Cesare Nebbia, Giovanni Battista Ricci, Ferraù Fenzone and Paul Brill, under the direction of Giovanni Guerra and Gaspare Guerra. The chapel frescoes depict the deeds of Sixtus V, while the room iconography combines imperial and Christian Roman history with episodes from the Old and New Testaments. Outside, look up: the three three-storey façades are modelled on Palazzo Farnese but in the austere Counter-Reformation style, and the balconies over the three large portals bear the coats of arms of Sixtus V Peretti and of Clement XII Corsini, who completed part of the palace in 1735.
Crossing the Square to the Holy Stairs and the Leonian Triclinium
The medieval palace survives only in fragments, largely rebuilt later, and the largest of them are not in the main palace at all — they are incorporated into a separate building across the square. Make the crossing. There you find the Santa Scala, the "Holy Steps," and the Leonian Triclinium, the end wall of a great medieval hall. That hall was the state banqueting hall of the ancient palace, a two-storey structure lined with mosaics, with a main apse that hosted the papal throne. Nothing remains of its decoration, but in 1743 copies of the mosaics were made from drawings and placed in a specially built structure opposite the palace. The mosaic you see is a three-part representation: in the centre Christ gives their mission to the Apostles; on the left he gives the keys to St. Peter and the Labarum to Constantine; on the right St. Peter gives the stole to Leo III and the standard to Charlemagne, an image meant to represent the Frankish king's duty to protect the Church. The complex also includes the baptistery and the Sancta Sanctorum chapel, the private papal chapel that Leo III and Paschal I decorated with jewelled reliquaries and a reliquary chest modelled on the Ark of the Covenant.
Making the Most of Your Visit
The palace is open with the same hours as the Museo Storico Vaticano, so check ahead before you set out — details are posted at the palace's own website. Because this is a working seat of diocesan administration as well as a museum, treat it as a place of business and prayer as much as a sight. Give yourself time for both sides of the square: the palace and its frescoed apartment on one side, the Holy Stairs and the mosaic representation of the Leonian Triclinium on the other. The single thing not to miss is that three-part mosaic opposite the palace — it is the closest you will come to the lost splendour Dante marvelled at. And when you walk the piazza itself, remember what lies under your feet: ahead of the Jubilee year of 2025, archaeologists excavating the square uncovered the medieval-era walls of the palace, believed to have been built as early as the ninth century to protect the basilica and palace from Saracen raids and from internal conflicts among Rome's elite over control of the papacy. The Italian Ministry of Culture called it an extraordinarily important find, noting that no extensive archaeological excavations had ever been carried out in the square in modern times.
Beyond the Square
The Lateran sits in a city that rewards a full day on foot. The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome and one of the city's four major basilicas, is adjacent to the palace, and pilgrims to Rome are expected to visit it. From here you can carry on to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, climb the Palatine Hill, or cross the river for the Vatican Museums and the Cappella Sistina. The Pantheon, astonishingly well preserved considering it dates back to 125 AD, makes a fine end to a day's wandering. If your stay is longer, note that government-owned museums and historical sites have free admission on the first Sunday of every month, and that La settimana dei beni culturali, typically in mid-May, opens all publicly owned landmarks and historical sites without charge.
Start with the square: stand at its centre, look up at the coats of arms on the balconies, then cross to the Holy Stairs and the mosaic that remembers a hall Dante once placed beyond all human achievement. Check the museum hours, set aside an unhurried morning, and let the Lateran be the first chapter of your Roman days rather than an afterthought between the Colosseum and the Vatican.