Built as a cylindrical mausoleum by Emperor Hadrian of Rome on the Tiber River, east of what is now the Vatican, Castel Sant Angelo was turned into a military fortress before the Pope fortified it in the 14th century. The building is named after the statue of Archangel Michele (Michael) that stands on top. Castel Sant’Angelo is now a museum, the Museo Nazionale de Castel Sant’Angelo.
Available services
You can take guided tours or visits through audio guides. There is access for people with reduced mobility and a bookstore.
On the top floor there is a cafeteria with great views of Rome. If you arrive early for lunch, it may be possible to snag a table with a great view of St. Peters. The prices are not outrageous, and the coffee is good.
Find current prices and information in Italian: Castel Sant ‘Angelo Museum.
Get there
Bus lines 80, 87, 280 and 492 will take you close to the castle. You will find a taxi rank in Piazza P. Paoli. From the center, near Piazza Farnese, it is a very pleasant walk down Via Giulia and then after turning right on the Tiber, a walk over the Sant Angelo Bridge, which is full of statues, as seen in the photo image. The top right.
A visit to Castel Sant Angelo can easily be combined with a trip to the Vatican.
Castel Sant Angelo renovations
Recently, it was discovered that Castel Sant’Angelo was in bad shape. Italy will inject 1 million euros to fix the castle, after making immediate repairs that cost 100,000 euros. This activity can affect your visit.
More about Castel Sant Angelo
The castle has five floors. The first has a winding ramp of Roman construction, the second presents the prison cells, the third is the military floor with large courtyards, the fourth is the floor of the popes and contains the most magnificent art, and the fifth is a great terrace With a beautiful view of the city.
In 1277, Castel Sant’Angelo was connected to the Vatican by a rather infamous corridor called Passetto di Borgo, which allowed the castle to become a refuge from the Popes when Rome was under siege. Castel Sant’Angelo was an equal opportunity castle, it also housed popes in its prisons. You can clearly see the Passetto running on the north side of the aptly named Via dei Corridori , the ‘path of the corridors’, on a Google map. The Passetto can be visited only occasionally, as explained on the Atlas Obscura page
Puccini’s opera Tosca was set in Rome and features the sound of the bells of Castel Sant’Angelo. Puccini made a trip to Rome “or for the sole purpose of determining the tone, timbre, and pattern of the bells. He even climbed to the top of the tower at Castel Sant’Angelo to clearly experience the Matin bells, sounded in the morning by all the churches in the area and I heard them in Act Three of Tosca «. Tosca’s third act takes place in Sant Angelo.
