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Besides being a former Crusader stronghold, Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a semi-secret peephole vista.
A small, but beautifully framed view from a plain green door at the end of a cul-de-sac awaits those who visit the Priory of the Knights of Malta. This historic site boasts two nation-states and one country, with the impressive dome of St. Peter’s standing at its center. Originally home to a fortified palace owned by Alberico II, it then became a Benedictine monastery before being passed to the hands of the Knights Templar during 1100s and subsequently to their fellow crusader knights, the Knights of Malta, four centuries later. Beyond the gates lies an area with extraterritorial status and thus not considered Italian territory.
