St. Angel's Castle

Originally tomb of the emperor Hadrian erected in 130 A.D. as a mausoleum for himself and his family, the castle later became a stronghold linked to the Vatican Palace. The building is nearly 50m high and the base had a surface of 89m sq., the body having a diameter of more or less 64 metres.

The name of the castle comes from an apparition during the plague of 590. The tradition says that Pope Gregorio Magno, while praying, was visited by an angel who was cased the sword, gesture seen as the end for disease in the area. This came to be known as the savior of the people and his name was given to the magnificent castle.

In 1277, the State of the Church takes ownership of the castle and turns it into a fortress-jail, also building the connection to the Vatican Buildings.  Theodoric, the king of Italy (493-526), also used the building as a prison. During the Middle Ages, the castle gradually turned into a fortress and a fortified passage was built in order to connect the castle to the Vatican palaces.

Thanks to the relative National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo, the inside of the castle can be visited by tourists, and is made of five floors, apart from the frescoes of the Renaissance and the many rooms build in the Roman period.