Opening hours 2023
Closing days in the 2023: every Sunday of the month except the last
Other closing days: January 6, February 11, April 10, May 1, June 29, August 15 and 16, November 1, December 8, 25 and 26
Vatican State symbol and center of Catholicism, St. Peter's Basilica is the largest of the four papal basilicas of Rome and the largest Catholic church in the world. While the primitive Basilica of St. Peter was erected around 320 by Emperor Constantine at the place where, according to tradition, the Apostle Peter was buried, the present basilica was begun April 18, 1506 under Pope Julius II and ended in 1626, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII
The emblem of the basilica and of the entire city of Rome is the Dome that, built in two years by Giacomo Della Porta, following the designs of Michelangelo, is surprising in size and harmony: 133 meters high, 41, 50 meters in diameter (a little lower than that of the Pantheon) and 537 steps from the building's base to the lantern
The monumental Piazza San Pietro, built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1657 and 1667, and the splendid colonnade of 284 columns of the Doric order and eighty-eight travertine pillars, is crowned by the basilica. Columns are arranged radially in four rows so as to maintain the proportional relationships between spaces and columns even in external files.
So the viewer reaching the porphyry disks at the sides of the obelisk sees the colonnade as consisting of a single row of columns!
Sant'Angelo castel
Built around 123 d.C. As a sepulcher for Emperor Hadrian and his family, Castel Sant'Angelo accompanies for almost two thousand years the fate and history of Rome.
From a fortified foremost funerary monument, from a dark and terrible jail to a splendid Renaissance home that is active in its Michelangelo walls, from the Risorgimento Prison to the current museum.
The remains of the original mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian are well visible in the lower partitions of the building. The large travertine blocks that cover the walls clearly show the holes of the metal grapples that anchored the Roman marble coating.
The transformation of the building from a funerary monument to a fortified outpost is about 271 dC. When, under the Emperor Aurelian, he was adapted to the fortress and became definitive in 403 with the inclusion of the building in the Aurelian walls.
It was Pope Niccolò V, about 1450, to furnish the castle of a real apartment and, fifty years later, Pope Borgia ordered the construction of a new, luxurious apartment with gardens and fountains and decorated by Pinturicchio.
From the 17th century Castel Sant'Angelo seems to gradually lose the role of residence to form itself almost exclusively as a prison; Carbonari and patriots consume their days of imprisonment between these walls, until at least September 20, 1870, when Rome was proclaimed the capital of the young Kingdom of Italy.
Then, in the wide boulevards of the Lungotevere, two bastions of the pentagonal wall are cut down; the moats that run around the building are buried; some buildings of Pope Urban VIII are grounded; Also causes the contemporary rise of the road level, the height of the facade of the castle is considerably reduced.
Ticket Booking
Ticket + Tour
Omnia Card for Rome & Vatican City
This is the card that guarantees skip-the-line access to all major Vatican locations in Rome:
Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica (with audio guide), St. Paul's Basilica outside the walls, Mamertine Prison and, with the 72h card, Basilica and Cloister of San Giovanni in Laterano.
In addition, the Omnia Card also thinks about transport and, in addition to all the routes on the Vatican & Rome Open Bus circuit, it also includes free use of public transport in Rome (only the 72h card).
Booking
A convenient combination to best see the most important places in the Vatican.
In addition to the entrance with guided tour to St. Peter's Basilica, the papal sarcophagi and the dome, the package includes an early VIP entrance to the Vatican Museums, to visit the museums before the crowds with a two-hour guided tour and breakfast in one of the most iconic places in the world: the Vatican bistro at the Cortile della Pigna!
After breakfast you can freely resume your visit to the Vatican museums
Tickets
