Page 423 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

ROME : THE V A TIC AN AND TR ASTE VERE  421

1 Castel
Sant’Angelo
AROUND
PIAZZA
NAVONA Lungotevere Castello. Map 2 D3.
Tel 06 681 91 11. @ 34, 280.
Tevere
Open 9am–7:30pm daily (last entry
VATICAN
AND 6:30pm). Closed 1 Jan, 25 Dec. &
TRASTEVERE
9 = - 7 ∑ castelsantangelo.
beniculturali.it
Locator Map This massive fortress takes its
See Rome Street Finder map 1 name from the vision of the
This staircase leading down Archangel Michael by Pope
from the museums, designed in Gregory the Great in the 6th
1932 by Giuseppe Momo, is in century as he led a procession
the form of a double helix, across the bridge, praying for
consisting of two spirals: one to the end of the plague.
walk up and one to walk down. The castle began life in
AD 139 as the Emperor
Hadrian’s mausoleum. Since
then it has been a bridgehead
Entrance to Vatican in the Emperor
Museums Aurelian’s city
wall, a medieval
citadel and
prison, and a
place of safety
for popes
during times
of political
. Vatican Museums unrest. A
The marble group of corridor links Illusionistic frescoes
the Laocoön (AD 1) is it with the by Pellegrino Tibaldi
one of many presti­ Vatican Palace,
gious works of art in providing an escape route for
the Vatican (see p426). the pope. From dank cells to
fine apartments of Renaissance
popes, the museums cover all
aspects of the castle’s history,
including the Sala Paolina, with
illusionistic frescoes (1546–8)
by Pellegrino Tibaldi and
Perin del Vaga and the
Courtyard of Honour.

V I A D I P O R T A A N G E L I C A The Cortile della Pigna

is named after a
bronze pine cone from
an ancient fountain.
P I A Z Z A
S A N P I E T R O

P I A Z Z A . Raphael Rooms
P I O X I I
Raphael frescoed this
suite in the early
16th century. Works like
The School of Athens
established his reputation,
which soon equalled that
of his contemporary Castel Sant’Angelo viewed from the
Michelangelo (see p431). Ponte Sant’Angelo

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