Bernini's piazza, Michelangelo's dome and the tombs of the popes: the basilica at the heart of the Catholic world, with the square that opens before it and the hidden levels beneath.
Last updated August 23, 2026
In a nutshell: St Peter's is the largest church in Christendom and the heart of the Catholic world: Bernini's piazza and colonnades, Michelangelo's dome and Pietà, the bronze baldachin over the papal altar, the tombs of the popes in the grottoes below and the chance to see the pope himself in the square. The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel lie a few minutes away, Borgo and Prati surround the district with food and calm, and the district overview ties the whole area together.
The piazza before the basilica is enormous: 320m at its widest, 240m at its longest. From the air it reads as a giant keyhole, an immense ellipse that narrows to pour pilgrims into the church. Gian Lorenzo Bernini directed the works from 1656 to 1667 and conceived the two curving colonnades that cradle the square, which he likened to a mother's outstretched arms. Each arm is columns four deep in the Doric order, 284 in all, crowned by 140 statues of saints. A fountain stands at each end of the ellipse, and in the middle rises the Vatican Obelisk; Pliny the Elder claimed it came from Heliopolis in Egypt and that Emperor Caligula shipped it to Rome in 40 CE.
Tip: Bernini planted an optical trick here. Walk to the piazza's centre, find the two round plates engraved 'Centro del colonnato', and stand on one: the four ranks of columns line up perfectly and seem to fuse into a single row.
The piazza ranks among Rome's liveliest junctions, with tourists, pilgrims, Vatican staff and police swirling together. At Christmastime a tall tree goes up before the basilica, ringed by a crib scene, a practice launched in the 1980s under Pope John Paul II.
Just beyond the piazza, Via della Conciliazione runs directly towards the Tiber as the Vatican's ceremonial approach, conceived as a symbolic bridge joining the Italian Republic and the Holy See. The project provoked sharp criticism, for it required sweeping away nearly the entire quarter on the site, including the Spina di Borgo - a row of buildings stretching from Castel Sant'Angelo to the square that had concealed the basilica until the last step. Only the dome had always remained in view: no Roman structure has ever risen above it.
Spotting the pope calls for a little organisation, though less than imagined. The thriftiest option asks only for patience: the Angelus, recited in St Peter's Square each Sunday at noon. Appearing at the study window in the Apostolic Palace, the pontiff addresses the throng, recites the prayer and bestows his benediction.
Papal Masses are kept for great occasions - chiefly Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Palm Sunday and a new pope's enthronement - and demand is fierce, so reserve well ahead. Full information is posted on the Vatican website (vatican.va/various/prefettura/index_en.html).
Papal audiences typically take place on Wednesday mornings, outdoors in St Peter's Square when the sky cooperates and otherwise in the Aula delle Udienze Pontificie Paolo VI. Attendance requires reserving well ahead with the Prefecture of the Papal Household.
Probably the best-known church on the planet and surely the most dazzling in any city, indeed in any country, full of them. Every corner holds masterpieces: Michelangelo's Pietà, Bernini's bronze baldachin, the papal tombs, the giant bronze statue of St Peter and the dome that has shaped Rome's skyline for ages. Opening hours and entry prices are published on the official site (basilicasanpietro.va).
Tip: Dress for church: shoulders and knees must be covered or you will be stopped at the entrance. Entry involves a security check, and the queues, though inevitable, tend to move fast. Lines shrink around lunchtime and again towards evening.
The backstory: a first basilica, reportedly raised at Emperor Constantine's bidding, occupied this spot from about the dawn of the 4th century, on the ground where St Peter was thought to have met his death. By the 14th century the ancient church was derelict and replacement plans circulated, yet building began only in 1506, in the days of Julius II, and ran until consecration in 1626 under Urban VIII. Bramante's blueprint envisioned a Greek cross crowned by an enormous central dome; his death in 1514 froze the works while architects, Raphael included, wrangled over the way forward. Michelangelo took charge in 1547, trimmed the plan and devised the cupola, but he too never saw it rise - hardly a surprise, since he was past seventy. Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana brought the cupola to completion, while Carlo Maderno fashioned the monumental facade.
The facade, the church's final addition, rose between 1608 and 1612 and answers the building's vast scale: 115m across, 48m tall. Eight towering columns bear the attic storey, where figures of Christ the Redeemer, John the Baptist and the apostles (St Peter alone excluded) stand sentinel. The entablature carries the inscription 'IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII', honouring Pope Paul V Borghese in the seventh year of his reign. Above the main door, the Loggia della Benedizione is the balcony from which a freshly elected pope is announced to the square after the Conclave and from which he delivers the Urbi et Orbi at Easter and Christmas.
From the central nave rises one of Bernini's masterpieces, the baldachin above the papal altar, known as the Altar of the Confession. The canopy stands 20m tall on four spiral columns, cast from bronze stripped from the Pantheon - a monument of Italian baroque in every sense. Glance down at the floor on your way: inlaid markers record the lengths of the world's great Catholic churches, every one of them dwarfed by this building. Beyond the altar, the Cattedra di San Pietro (Chair of St Peter) completes Bernini's triumph - a gilded bronze seat long held to be St Peter's own, borne by four towering saints and illuminated by a golden window framed by angels and the Holy Spirit's white dove.
The four colossal piers bearing the dome ring the baldachin. Against one pier's base stands Arnolfo di Cambio's bronze St Peter, cast in the 13th century and cherished by countless pilgrims, whose caresses over the centuries have polished the statue's right foot smooth.
Bernini's final work within the basilica, the funerary monument of Alexander VII, stands left of the baldachin. The pontiff kneels upon a drape of red marble while a skeleton claws its way out beneath him, holding an hourglass that recalls the relentless march of time. Monuments to over 250 popes of the Catholic Church crowd the building. Farther along the left aisle, the Cappella Clementina, built for Pope Clement VIII's Jubilee of 1600, shelters the tomb of St Gregory the Great and a memorial to Pius VII, while the arch leading to the neighbouring chapel carries a memorial to Leo XI. Past the Cappella del Coro (by Giovanni Battista Ricci) come memorials to Innocent VIII and, in the Cappella della Presentazione, black reliefs honouring John XXIII and Benedict XV. Hard by the doorway at the left, Antonio Canova's Stuart Monument commemorates the House of Stuart, driven from the British throne and long branded pretenders.
The entrance is along the left aisle. The museum guards the Tesoro della Basilica, the holy relics and treasures handed down from pope to pope: a Donatello tabernacle, the Crux Vaticana, a cross studded with jewels given to the basilica by Justinian II in the 6th century, and a collection of chandeliers, crosses and rings of past popes, all of which passed into the Holy See's possession over the centuries.
On entering, turn right and you meet one of Michelangelo's most renowned creations: La Pietà (1498-99), in which the Virgin Mary cradles the body of Jesus lowered from the cross - the single piece Michelangelo ever signed, his name running along the sash across Mary's breast. Bulletproof glass has shielded it since a hammer attack in the 1970s; restorers revived the statue using the many photographs and casts that recorded it. Nearby, a big red disc set in the paving marks the site of Charlemagne's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in the year 800. As you head for the altar you pass the Cappella di San Sebastiano (with John Paul II's tomb) and then the Cappella del Santissimo Sacramento, embellished by Borromini, Bernini and Pietro da Cortona. Next to the Cappella Gregoriana, whose design is Michelangelo's, rises the imposing monument to Gregory XIII.
Michelangelo based his cupola on Brunelleschi's for Florence's Duomo; the finished shell climbs to 199m. Its four supporting piers bear the names of saints housed in their niches, each linked to a basilica relic: St Longinus, whose spear opened Christ's side; St Veronica, with the cloth with which she wiped his face on the road to Calvary; St Helena, credited with bringing a splinter of the True Cross back to Rome; and St Andrew, whose head reposes here.
You can make the climb yourself: the ticket desk sits at the main portico's right-hand end, and the ascent begins there. Count on 320 tight steps overall, though a small elevator covers half the route - welcome news for anyone prone to claustrophobia or bouts of vertigo; the payoff, on a clear day, is a magnificent panorama from the summit.
If you do not mind confined spaces, the grottoes repay a visit. The free entrance lies beneath the pier of St Andrew - easy to spot, since a queue usually forms for it. Steps lead 3m below the basilica to halls packed with the sarcophagi and tombs of numerous popes, from the earliest days of Christianity to modern times. You will also see pillars from the original 4th-century church, for the grottoes fill the gap between the ancient basilica and the present one. The walk ends outdoors, along one flank of the church, so save the grottoes for the end of your visit to St Peter's.
Attending Mass: beyond its artistic riches, the basilica functions as a live church, with daily Masses in its chapels. Schedules for services and other celebrations appear at basilicasanpietro.va/en.html.