Handpicked experience · Rome
Rome, Italy
A tomb, a fortress, a papal bolt-hole and a prison in one building — plus the terrace with the only complete view of St Peter's dome.
Take a trip to the internationally famous Castel Sant'Angelo to kick off your adventures in italy
Go over the historic bridge Ponte Sant'Angelo made of marble, which Gian Lorenzo Bernini created
Admission to the fortress and the museum collections inside it
An audio guide application to follow the exhibition route
Priority entry when the ticket is booked in advance
Temporary exhibitions, and the statue-lined bridge just outside
Entry to the national museum inside Castel Sant'Angelo, with an audio guide app to follow as you go. No guide comes with it, so what you get is the building, the collection and a route to walk at your own speed. The building is the point, and it has had more different jobs than almost anything else in Rome.
Hadrian built it for himself, finished the year after he died, as an enormous drum on a square base planted with cypresses and topped by a bronze chariot. The emperors after him were interred there too, down to Caracalla. You can still walk the original spiral ramp cut through the mass of it, which led to the burial chamber at the centre — Roman brick and travertine, unmistakably older than everything built on top of it.
When the Visigoths took the city in 410 they broke open the urns and scattered what was inside. Nothing of the imperial burials remains. Within a century the tomb had been absorbed into the city walls as a fortress, which is what saved the structure: it was too useful militarily to quarry for stone, unlike almost every other ancient monument here.
In 590, during a plague, Gregory the Great is said to have seen the archangel Michael on the summit sheathing his sword, taken as a sign the epidemic was ending. The building took its name from that vision. The bronze figure up there now dates from 1753; an earlier marble version stands in one of the courtyards, moved indoors after being struck by lightning.
Running from the castle to the Vatican is a raised covered passage about eight hundred metres long, built in the thirteenth century so that a pope under threat could leave the palace without setting foot in the street. It was used in earnest in 1527, when imperial troops sacked Rome: the Swiss Guard held the steps of St Peter's while Clement VII went along the passage to this building, and most of that guard died doing it. The date is still marked by the corps every year.
For centuries the upper cells held people the papacy wanted out of circulation, among them the goldsmith Cellini, who broke out and wrote a gleeful account of it, and Giordano Bruno before his trial. The opera set its final act on these ramparts, which is why so many visitors arrive with an image of someone leaping from the parapet at dawn.
From the top you see the dome of St Peter's entire, standing free above the rooftops, which you cannot do from the dome itself or from most of the streets below it. The best light is late in the day, and the walk up passes through the Renaissance papal apartments, frescoed and startlingly domestic after all that brick.
The route runs upward in a continuous loop from the ramp through the courtyards and apartments to the terrace, largely by stairs, and there is no lift to the top. The audio guide runs on your own phone, so bring headphones and enough battery to last the climb.
Allow a good ninety minutes to do it properly. Bags go through a check on entry. There is no guide with this booking, and cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. The ticket covers admission and an audio guide app that runs on your own phone, so bring headphones and make sure you have battery for the climb.
Hadrian's tomb, completed the year after he died, with emperors interred there down to Caracalla. The original spiral ramp through the interior still survives and forms part of the visitor route.
The Visigoths broke the urns open and scattered them when they took the city in 410. Nothing of the burials remains, and within a century the structure had been absorbed into the walls as a fortress.
Because Gregory the Great was said to have seen the archangel Michael sheathing his sword on the summit during a plague in 590, taken as a sign the epidemic was ending. The bronze figure there now dates from 1753.
An eight-hundred-metre covered passage built in the thirteenth century as an escape route. Clement VII used it during the sack of Rome in 1527, while the Swiss Guard held the steps of St Peter's and most of them were killed.
For centuries. Cellini was held here and escaped, writing a delighted account afterwards, and Giordano Bruno was confined before his trial. The opera's last act is set on these ramparts.
About ninety minutes. The route climbs continuously from the ramp through courtyards and papal apartments to the terrace, mostly by stairs, and there is no lift to the top.