Castel Sant'Angelo and St Peter's Square skip-the-line guided tour

Explore two historic sites of Rome on a three-hour walking tour of the Castel Sant’ Angelo and St. Peter’s Square: learn the history of an ancient fortress, commissioned by Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum, and marvel at Bernini’s colonnades in the Vatican City.Your experience will begin on Ponte Sant’ Angelo, formerly known as the Aelian Bridge. Built in 134 AD by Emperor Hadrian, the bridge spans the River Tiber from the city center to his mausoleum in the Castel Sant'Angelo. Admire sculptures of angels by Bernini, Raggi and Morelli, before skipping the lines to see Hadrian’s tomb. Feast your eyes on the frescoes, Papal apartments, and magnificent corridors of the castle, and experience the fear of former prisoners as you learn about the castle’s time as a prison. Next, you'll follow in the footsteps of former popes on the Passetto di Borgo, and learn how they would escape death threats from their opponents. Your guide will explain the dark connections between the castle and Vatican State. Once in St. Peter's Square, the last stop of your tour, you'll get to admire Bernini’s massive colonnade and the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica, as you learn about the architects behind its astonishing construction, including Michelangelo, Bernini and Borromini.