Castel Sant'Angelo

Not far from St. Peter's Basilica, at the end of Ponte Sant'Angelo, on the right bank of the Tiber rises imposing Castel Sant'Angelo.

The Mausoleum, desired and probably designed by Hadrian as a tomb for himself and his successors, was initially built by the architect Demetrius around 123 and finished a year after the emperor's death by Antoninus Pius. Since 1925 it has been the home of the National Museum of Castel S. Angelo and houses collections of art and history as well as relics of the Italian Army in a monumental setting restored for the occasion. The complex and stratified history of the monument, which can thus be traced back to the three main nuclei consisting of the Roman remains of the imperial mausoleum, the fortified castle and the papal apartments, constitutes at once the substance and the frame of the exhibition itinerary that boasts heterogeneous collections of sculptures, paintings, marble artifacts, weapons furniture and objects of various provenance, partly recovered in the excavation of the mausoleum's helicoidal ramp, partly donated by the Roman National Museum of the Baths of Diocletian and the dissolved Industrial Artistic Museum, and partly acquired on the antiquities market and as a result of the exhibitions set up to celebrate the 1911 Universal Exposition. At certain times of the year it is possible to walk along the famous "Passetto" or er Corridore (the Corridor), of Borgo: a raised and fortified passageway that connects the Vatican with Castel Sant'Angelo, passing over the Vatican Walls.

With this passage, which led from the Castle directly to the Vatican Palaces, it was intended to allow the head of the Church to take refuge in case of need inside the Castle and at the same time to have a bastion that would allow better control of the Rione. The strategic importance of the Passetto emerged most during the darkest and most painful periods for Rome and for the Church itself. In fact, it was used by Alexander VI Borgia when in the year 1494 he crossed it to find refuge in the Castle during the invasion of Rome by the militia of Charles VIII of France. Then in 1527 the Passetto was also used as an escape route by Pope Clement VII Medici (1523-1534) who took refuge in the Castle during the Sack of Rome perpetrated by Charles VIII's Lansquenets. This is the last great undertaking linked to the Passetto, which saw its defensive function wane with the end of the 16th century.

CURIOSITY In 1527 Pope Clement VII let his beard grow as a sign of mourning for the misfortune that was striking Rome; it is said, however, that his intention was actually to make himself unrecognizable for an eventual escape. After him until Paul V all popes wore beards

FONTE: https://www.turismoroma.it/it/luoghi/museo-nazionale-di-castel-santangelo