Donate Bramante's first work for Pope Julius II, as director of his vast building program, is the construction of the vast (eight hundred and fifty by two hundred and fifty-five feet/two hundred and fifty nine by seventy-eight meters) Cortile del Belvedere of the Vatican Palace in Rome, begun in 1505.

Bramante intends the structure to join the old villa of Innocent VIII with the Vatican Palace across a valley.

Conceived as a single enclosed space, the long Belvedere court connects the Vatican Palace with the Villa Belvedere in a series of terraces connected by stairs, and is contained on its sides by narrow wings.

The upper half of the huge court is to display the Vatican's collection of ancient sculpture, and the lower area is to be used for tournaments and pageants.

At the far end, Bramante places a giant exedra, an enormous semicircular niche capped with a half dome.

Florentine sculptor and architect Jacopo Sansovino in about 1505 follows his master Andrea Sansovino to Rome, where he will absorb classical influences in the course of restoring antique statues.