Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant’Angelo stands beside the Tiber in Rome, a massive rotunda built first as Hadrian’s tomb. Its cylindrical shape rises above Parco Adriano, once topped by a garden and a golden chariot. The popes later turned it into a fortress, linking it to St Peter’s by the Passetto di Borgo. Inside, visitors find corridors and rooms arranged around the original core of the mausoleum. The building still carries scars from sieges and plagues recorded in its walls. From the ramparts there are long views along the river and towards the Vatican. The castle’s history is marked by figures like Hadrian, whose ashes were placed here with those of his family. Later, popes added chapels and apartments, while prisoners such as Giordano Bruno and Benvenuto Cellini left their mark. A bronze angel by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt now crowns the roof, replacing an earlier marble figure. The bridge Pons Aelius, built by Hadrian, still offers a grand approach lined with Baroque statues. Each year, fireworks burst above the castle on St Peter’s Day, a tradition noted by Cornelis de Bruijn. Inside, the museum displays relics from the imperial tomb and the papal fortress. The Treasury Room once held urns of emperors, though these were scattered long ago. Executions took place in the small inner courtyard, later used for Puccini’s Tosca. A planned tunnel will connect the castle to St Peter’s, completing a route once used only in times of siege. The walls still echo stories of plague visions and military defence.