Among the capital’s most popular sights, Castel Sant’Angelo attracts daily crowds for its commanding structure and delicately adorned rooms. But it is a fortress that has a complicated history, and this is reflected in the unique architecture, in the fact that there are various elements of the internal structure that live together in a harmonious overlay.
For this very reason, it would be important to enter Castel Sant’Angelo only after booking a guided tour, which can illustrate the key moments in the monument’s history, its evolution, and a series of distinctive features and interesting details that will make the two hours even more engaging.
We will now find out what this tour covers and why it should be preferred over the others.
What’s included?
The ticket will cost EUR59 and will provide the visitor with several advantages.
To start with, the fast track allows you to jump in line and get in fast, which is a very welcome additive at the busiest of times, which is very common in Rome and not only in the holidays.
The guided tour is two hours long and it could accommodate a group of up to 20 individuals where each individual was given earpieces to listen to the audio guide throughout the visit.
You can therefore explore this monumental fortress guided by the voice of an expert, who will explain in English the highlights of Castel Sant’Angelo’s history, also helping you appreciate the decorations and frescoes by placing them in the proper artistic context.
What’s not included?
Taxi is not included in the guided tour ticket and thus you will have to be a couple of minutes early at the entrance at Lungotevere Castello 50 to join the guide and rest of the group. Tips, always optional, are not provided, and neither are refreshments and meals, which must be taken outside the fortress.
Why would you buy a guided tour online beforehand?
Buying the guided tour ticket online and in advance guarantees that you can access Castel Sant’Angelo at the specified time and date, skip the line, and enjoy a thorough explanation for the full two hours. It is quite dangerous to go there without a ticket as we are talking about one of the most valued and popular sights of the capital and one that is always under a lot of tourist traffic.
The guided tour ticket is the best way to discover and appreciate the true essence of Castel Sant’Angelo–from its origins as the majestic Mausoleum of Hadrian to a fortress outpost of the Aurelian Walls, later serving as a maximum-security prison and as an aristocratic residence.
You will find to your surprise how many forms and functions this structure has assumed, which yet retain in it all the evidences of the many transitions which it has passed through in the course of the centuries.
Getting at the voice of an expert will make you watch more attentively all the details of the precious interior frescoes, executed by the hands of illustrious men, as Michelangelo and Pinturicchio, when the fortress was controlled by the pontiffs and was an external defence and internally an ornamental view.
