Location: Castel S. Angelo

Built in 123AD as a mausoleum upon the orders of the Emperor Hadrian, it underwent radical changes and transformation to become a castle during the tenth century.
In 1277 it became the property of the Vatican who joined it to the Vatican walls by means of a now well-known passageway. The passageway is a long fortified corridor which allowed the Popes to pass from the Vatican buildings to the castle which, at that time, served several purposes – place of torture, prisons and a papal fortress. The castle owes its name – the Castle of the Holy Angel – to a legend which tells of the plague in Rome in 590 coming to an end thanks to the apparition of an angel. The angel stopped over the castle and placed his sword in its sheath in order to symbolise that grace had been granted to the city.


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