The largest church in Christendom, 120 years in the building.
Free (security line ~20-30 min)75 minShoulders & knees covered
The story
1 min readThree stations: Michelangelo's Pietà, carved at 24 and the only work he ever signed (after overhearing it credited to a rival); Bernini's 29 m bronze baldacchino; and the dome, Michelangelo's answer to Brunelleschi, 136 m overhead.
Brass markers down the nave show where every other great cathedral would end inside this one.
The shot
Dome interior straight up (brace on the floor rail); the basilica from mid-Ponte Sant'Angelo, framed by Bernini's angels.