Today we visited Castel Sant Angelo in Rome. It was our first time there and we were quite stunned in general - its quite an incredible site with impressive history - and rather large !
The Castel sits right by the Tiber River not that far from the Vatican. To be fair, on the castle front, its not the prettiest of castles, but there is a really good reason for that !
The site has had about 3 or 4 main phases, which you can see in the construction. It originally started out as the mausoleum for the Emperor Hadrian with building starting in 135 AD. Around 400 years later further walls were added to make it into a fortress, when Rome was being plagued by invading barbarians, and then in the middle ages (around 500 years ago) it became a papal residence, with fine accommodation added right at the top - so when you look at it, and think it looks like a hodge podge of architecture and construction, its because it is !
The setting is quite nice down by the river. It was fairly crowded, but its so large inside that its not really a problem.
The model above shows the original mausoleum. I hadnt realised that Hadrians tomb was here, and that got me quite excited being a massive fan of roman history !
And above is a bust of the man himself.
You start at the bottom in the tombs, and it does look very tomb like !
And this corridor curves up through the mausoleum towards the fortress stage.
And in the pic above you can see the central castle with some of the outer walls and buildings. Those are 4 storey buildings, which are dwarfed by the central castle.
When you emerge at the top you come out at the start of the papal residences.
Above is the statue of the archangel michael, who the pope had seen during the plague in 590, and the name from the castel came from that (its a more complicated story than that, that I couldnt remember !). I love the metal wings on the statue.
Above is one of the fireplaces in the papal residence - this one being constructed or commemorating pope Paul the 3rd. I love the title Pont Max, which refers to Pontifix Maximus (master bridge builder I think) which was actually a title bestowed in Roman times on high ranking individuals long before Christianity, and then that title has continued on in the citie's history transferring to the Popes. Quite incredible really.
From the top you start to get some pretty impressive views. Above looks down onto the outer wall and defensive tower. I think thats an aqueduct coming in at the left to supply water (I might be wrong). And you can see an onager/catapult there with the piles of stone balls for ammunition.
The views out across the city were worth it alone !
And you can pretty much get a good view of the whole city.
And then right at the top you are treated to an even finer statue of the archangel.
If you like history, then this was well worth it. Entry fee was not too bad for adults (12 Euro) and kids were free. Well worth it in my book and strongly recommended !
