The angel's terrace
A 360-degree view over Rome with St Peter's dome up close โ the city's best ticketed sunset spot.
Livioandronico2013 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Ruud Koot โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Alexkom000 โ CC BY 4.0 ยท BjoernEisbaer โ CC BY-SA 3.0
The bridge is free and beautiful, but entry buys two things invisible from outside: the route through four eras, and the rooftop view of St Peter's dome. If your day is in the Vatican, add it in the afternoon.
Ninety minutes covers the full route with time on the terrace; two hours if you read the panels or visit a temporary exhibition.
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One building with four lives: begun in AD 139 as Hadrian's mausoleum, then a fortress in Rome's walls, then a papal castle and prison, and finally a museum. Its name comes from Pope Gregory I's vision in 590 โ the Archangel Michael sheathing his sword above the building to signal the plague's end โ and the bronze angel still crowns the roof. Inside, a spiralling ramp climbs through rooms of different centuries: an original Roman corridor, then ornate Renaissance halls where popes lodged, then prison cells, then Paul III's apartment with its painted walls. At the top, a circular terrace turns a full 360 degrees over Rome โ a view many rate the city's best, because it is the only one where St Peter's dome stands at full scale close by. The secret few visitors know: the Passetto โ an 800-metre walled corridor linking the castle to the Vatican, built for papal escape and actually used by Clement VII in 1527 when Rome was sacked.
A 360-degree view over Rome with St Peter's dome up close โ the city's best ticketed sunset spot.
Ten angels from Bernini's workshop lining the bridge before the castle โ Rome's loveliest pedestrian bridge, and entirely free.
The 800-metre secret corridor to the Vatican โ opened to visitors in certain seasons; check the programme if it interests you.
Ornate Renaissance halls and Clement VII's tiny painted bathroom โ luxury hidden inside a military fortress.
Lungotevere Castello, Rome