This Basilica is one of the most impressive works of the Renaissance and the 1600s, for its majesty and size: it is more than 218 metres long, has 45 altars, 11 chapels and more than 100 immense pillars. But the most impressive feature is the infinite number of masterpieces it contains.

The architects of the Basilica were ingenious masters and, to mention just a few, among them were Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The construction of the Basilica of Saint Peter’s, the largest in the history of Christianity, was started in 1506 and ended in 1626, whereas the arrangement of the square in front of it only finished in 1667.

Before Saint Peter’s was built, another basilica, dating from the 4th century, was built by the Roman Emperor Constantine the First on the same spot as the future location of St Peter’s. The site is the area where both Nero’s Circus and a neighbouring necropolis, where, according to tradition, Saint Peter, the first of Jesus’ apostles, is buried, were located.

Free entry