Saint Peter and Borgo

The Ponte Sant'Angelo is defined by ten marble angel statues lining its balustrades, each holding an instrument of Christ's Passion. Built in one hundred thirty-four AD by Emperor Hadrian as the Pons Aelius, this bridge originally served…

Castel Sant'Angelo is a massive, towering rotunda on the banks of the Tiber River. Originally commissioned by Emperor Hadrian between one twenty-three and one thirty-nine AD, the structure was built as a grand mausoleum for himself and his…

The Passetto di Borgo is an elevated, fortified corridor that stretches for eight hundred meters between the Vatican Apostolic Palace and Castel Sant’Angelo. You can identify it by its long, wall-like structure, which stands roughly seven…

Palazzo Giraud Torlonia is a sixteenth-century Renaissance palace characterized by its smooth ashlar facade and three floors featuring two superimposed orders of pilasters. It was originally commissioned in fourteen ninety-six by Cardinal…

The Palace of the Penitenzieri is defined by its fortress-like Renaissance facade and a massive, square tower on the northeast corner. Built between fourteen eighty and fourteen ninety for Cardinal Domenico della Rovere, the structure…

Borgo Pio is a narrow, cobbled pedestrian street defined by its low-slung, multi-colored buildings and the presence of artisan shops that have operated in the shadows of the Vatican for centuries. Established in fifteen sixty-five by Pope…

Piazza Papa Pio XII sits at the end of the long, wide Via della Conciliazione, forming an open approach to St. Peter’s Square. The square is defined by its scale as a transition space, designed to clear the path for the thousands of…

Saint Peter's Square is defined by the massive, sweeping colonnades that frame the open space before the basilica. These two hemicycles consist of two hundred eighty-four columns arranged in four rows, curving outward to form an elliptical…