Entrance ticket to Castel Sant’Angelo

Book your entrance ticket to Castel Sant’Angelo. Caste Sant’Angelo, or Adrianorum Mole or “Castellum Crescentii” also known as Hadrian’s Mausoleum is situated on the right bank of the Tiber not far from the Vatican Museums.

The history of Castel Sant’Angelo coincides with that of Rome, two entities so deeply permeated with its changes, miseries and glories that seem to be reflected promptly in the massive structure that from almost two thousand years is reflected in the waters of the Tiber.

Founded in 123 A.D. as a tomb by Emperor Hadrian’s order in a peripheral area of the ancient Rome. In 403 A.D. became a fortified outpost to defend Rome, it is included in the Aurelian walls at the behest of the Western Emperor Honorius. From this moment begins his ‘second life’ in the city’s patron robes.

In 1367 the building was handed over to papa Urbano V, to request the return of the Curia in Rome after the exile in Avignon. From that moment the destiny of the Castel Sant’Angelo was linked to that of the pontiffs, who adapted the residence as a refuge in times of danger. Due to its solid and fortified structure and its reputation for unpredictability this magnificent castle houses the Archives and the Vatican Treasury. It was also adapted as a courthouse and a jail.

Many Roman families have desired its possession, Teofilatto, Crescenzi, the Pierleoni and Orsini, and it is an Orsini Pope Nicholas III, to design and to build the “Passetto di Borgo”, connecting the Vatican to the castle, in a physical and ideal continuity. The castle has radically changed many times, the appearance and the layout of the castle were reshaped through a long series of interventions that wind over four centuries.