Vatican Hill - Featured on Medieval Tapestry

Vatican Hill (known, in Latin, as Vaticanus Mons) is a Roman hill located on the opposite side of the Tiber River from the more commonly known "seven hills" of Rome. Historians are not certain, but it may have been the site of Vaticum, an ancient Etruscan town.

During the first century, A.D., Vatican Hill was not inside the city limits of Rome. It could therefore have a cemetery and a circus arena (the circus of Nero, originally founded by Caligula). It is believed that St. Peter was crucified, upside down, at the circus and was then buried in the nearby cemetery.

Pope Leo IV expanded Rome's walls, between 848 and 852, in order to protect the old St. Peter's Basilica (built by Emperor Constantine) and the Vatican. As a result, Vatican Hill was brought within Rome's city limits and remained so until Vatican City was declarated a separate city-state in 1929.

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