Castle of Sant'Angelo

Among the sights of Rome, a visit to the Castle of St. Angel can certainly be the most exciting experience. This fortress was originally built as a tomb, and today is a fascinating labyrinth consisting of 58 rooms.

The fate of the castle of St. Angel is very interesting and complex. Legend has it that the name "Castle of St. Angel" appeared in 590, after the procession of Pope Gregory the Great passed through the city streets. There was a plague epidemic in the city. The angels prayed over the tomb, putting the sword in the sheath. People interpreted this phenomenon as God’s mercy, and soon the epidemic stopped, and after a while a statue of an angel was installed on the roof of the mausoleum.

For many years of its existence, it managed to be a tomb, a fortress, and the residence of the Pope, and even serve as a "storage Catholic Church." Separate rooms on the ground floor, as well as the dungeons of the castle, were used for some time as a prison. The conspirators against the Pope were detained here, the scholars Giordano Bruno and Galileo were imprisoned here, and in December 1789, Count Cagliostro, accused of heresy, was placed in a solitary confinement cell. Only one person managed to escape from prison - it was Benvenuto Cellini - the famous sculptor and author of memoirs, famous not only for his works, but also for this escape.