Saint Peter

Saint Peter’s Basilica is a catholic church located within the Vatican City, and overlooking Saint Peter’s Square.
Saint Peter’s Square borders to the East the rione of Borgo and can be reached from Via di Porta Angelica or Via della Conciliazione (belonging to the Italian territory). The famous square, where pilgrims gather every day, is a marvellous example of Baroque architecture and town planning.
The giant oval order of columns stretching across the end of the square symbolizes two huge arms embracing the devotees. As Bernini stated "Being almost like a matrix for all the other churches, Saint Peter’s Basilica ought to have a colonnade welcoming everyone, from the catholic believers to confirm their faith, to the heretics to reunite them with the Church, to the infidels show them the true faith".
The triple colonnade relates to a topic of the Old Testament, where Ezekiel describes the area outside God's Temple as a porticus incta portici triplici, as well as a symbol of the Trinity Dogma.
As it is said in the paper records, the concave shape of the square creates a "theatre" effect, because when the square is flocked with people the crowd can see themselves, like in a cavea.
Saint Peter’s Basilica is the main papal basilica, the centre of the Catholic religion, and is often referred to as the biggest church in the world. The main catholic events, including the Pope proclamation, take place there. Architects like Bramante, Rapahel, Michelangelo, Maderno, and Bernini designed the Basilica, and several other artists embellished it with their statues and works of art.

Inside the church is divided into three aisles, each of them boasting priceless works of art. At the end of the 187 m long nave is Saint Peter’s baldachin, erected by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1624 and 1633. In order to build it, the Pope, who belonged to the Barberini family, ordered the old bronze statues in the Pantheon to be used. However, his decision was criticised in the Quod non fecerunt barbari fecerunt Barberini pasquinata. The Barberinis were famous for squandering huge amounts of money in order to celebrate their family with grand monuments. As a result, they had no scruples about ruining one of the most important heritages of Ancient Rome.
In the right aisle is Michelangelo's Pietà (1499), a white marble masterpiece now protected by a glass frame after being seriously damaged by a mentally disordered person in 1972. In the left aisle is the Chapel of the baptistery, designed by Carlo Fontana and decorated with mosaic tiles. The aisle also contains the tombs of Pius X, John XXIII, and Benedict XV.

DID YOU KNOW...?

Saint Peter’s Dome is not only the symbol of the Basilica itself but also of Rome and the Vatican City. It was built in only two years' time by Giacomo della Porta according to Michelangelo’s designs. It consists of two vaults placed one on top of the other, being the internal one thicker and the external one a protection of the former. The same design was used by Brunelleschi for the Dome of Florence.

Visiting Saint Peter’s Dome will allow you to enjoy one of the most suggestive views of Rome, as long as you will toil for it. In fact, the elevator will take you up to a certain height, and then you will have to proceed on foot 330 steps up! Going up is not easy and as you proceed the walls get narrower, so we advise anybody who suffers from claustrophobia or vertigo against visiting it.

If you have a close look at the frieze on the famous Bernini’s Baldaquin, on a level with your eyes you will notice a female face suffering from birth pangs. As you turn in a clockwise direction you will see the face increasingly in pain, until the last pillar where a smiling baby is depicted. It is said that the woman is the granddaughter of Pope Urban VIII, who gave birth to a baby when Bernini was working at the Baldaquin.