Exterior view

The photo shows the colossal semicircular exedra erected by Bramante at the end of the uppermost terrace in the Cortile del Belvedere. In 1562-65, Pirro Ligorio added a third story, enclosing the central space with a vast half-dome to form the largest niche that had been erected since antiquity - the nicchione (“great niche”). He completed his structure with an uppermost loggia that repeated the hemicycle of the niche. This part of the courtyard is called the Cortile della Pigna after the Pigna, a large bronze pinecone, mounted in the nicchione.