Lateran Palace, City palace in Monti district, Rome, Italy

The Lateran Palace is a three-story palace in the Monti district of Rome, standing next to the Lateran Basilica. Its three facades follow the model of Palazzo Farnese, and a monumental staircase connects ten halls and a chapel.

From the fourth century onward, popes resided in this complex and governed western Christianity from here until the fourteenth century. After their return from Avignon, they moved permanently to the Vatican, while the Lateran continued to serve ceremonial purposes.

The walls house Rome's earliest papal meeting rooms, which served as the center of church authority for centuries. Today's building shows Renaissance architectural echoes and reflects the influence of Roman builders who modeled their design on secular palaces.

The palace is entered from Saint John's Square in Lateran, beside the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran on the Caelian Hill. The Holy Steps and the Leonian Triclinium stand in a separate building across the square, so allow time to cross between them. The Lateran obelisk, the largest in Rome, rises in the square in front.

The Hall of Pontiffs hosted the 1929 signing of the Lateran Treaty, which regulated relations between Italy and the Holy See. This hall thus played a central role in modern European history, as it legally established church and state sovereignty.