With its dome by Michelangelo and the monumental façade, the Basilica of St. Peter dominates the spectacular colonnaded portico of St. Peter’s Square colonnade, Bernini’s masterpiece.

The heart of the Catholic Church, the Basilica is where in 324 AC Constantine built a shrine in honor of the First Apostle who was crucified and buried in that place. In 1506, Pope Julius II commissioned Donato Bramante to design the construction of what would be the largest church in the world (22,000 square meters). Bramante, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, were just some of the architects who succeeded in the more than one hundred years it took to complete the great work. The greatest artists of the Roman Baroque and Renaissance have left extraordinarily beautiful masterpieces, just think of the wonderful Pietà by Michelangelo, the Chair of St. Peter, at the monument of Urban VIII, and the sumptuous baldachin by Bernini.

USEFULL INFO

Opening hours: Mon – Sun (07.00 AM – 11.00 PM)

Admission: free to the Basilica; for the dome €8 by lift, €6 by foot

Web site

How to reach: bus stop Traspontina/Conciliazione (23, 34, 40, 982)

Address: Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano