Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant’Angelo sits on the right bank of the Tiber in Rome, a cylindrical fortress that has served as mausoleum, fortress, prison, and papal refuge over nearly two thousand years.

From Mausoleum to Fortress

The Emperor Hadrian commissioned the building as his tomb around 135 CE. It held the ashes of Roman emperors until the sack of Rome in 410. By the sixth century, the popes had converted it into a fortress. A covered passageway called the Passetto di Borgo connects the castle directly to the Vatican, allowing popes to flee to safety. Pope Clement VII used it in 1527 when the troops of Charles V sacked Rome, watching the city burn from the castle ramparts.

The Inquisition Dungeons

The castle’s lower chambers served as cells for prisoners of the Inquisition. Giordano Bruno was held here for six years before his execution in 1600. Beatrice Cenci was imprisoned here before her beheading in 1599. Alessandro Cagliostro, the self-proclaimed alchemist and Freemason, was sentenced to death by the Inquisition in 1789 and had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. He died in the fortress of San Leo in 1795, though tradition long placed his death at Castel Sant’Angelo.

The Castle Today

The castle is now a museum. The papal apartments on the upper floors contain Renaissance frescoes. The terrace offers one of the best views of Rome. The statue of the Archangel Michael on the summit commemorates a vision Pope Gregory the Great reportedly had in 590 CE, seeing the angel sheathing a sword to signal the end of a plague.