Castello Sant'Angelo
- Views from the mausoleum, Ponte Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant'Angelo (Castle of the Holy Angel) is a huge ancient fortress like building in cylindrical shape on the West banks of the Tiber, near the Vatican. It was built 123-130, commissioned by Emperor Hadriani as a mausoleum for himself and his family, for long the tallest building in Rome. It is connected to the old city center by Ponte Sant'Angelo, a bridge with beautiful religious sculptures. The building has been used by popes as a fortress, residence and castle. It has also been used as a prison, a military fortress (in 401), and is today a museum that is one of the most popular attractions in Rome. There is a circular outer wall around the actual building, creating a courtyard, and there are sloping passages that leads down to the ground floor. Inside the fortress you will find a lot of canons, several outdoor viewing decks, surrounding terraces, an art museum, a café and a library. There is an elevated passage called Passetto di Borgo, that connects Castel Sant'Angelo with the Vatican City, so that the pope can escape if the Vatican is attacked. Castel Sant'Angelo had a special role in Dan Brown's best selling novel Angels and Demons.

We visited it on a sunny day in June, but suddenly the sky turned to grey and a heavy rain and thunderstorm occured, forcing us and other visitors of the open air terrace café on the upper floors of the mausoleum to escape inside the small café or under the arcades. The heavy thunderstorm lasted for about one hour, for a time only focused above the Vatican City (!), and later it became sunny again.

Ponte Sant'Angelo (formerly Bridge of Hadrian) is a masonry bridge situated right opposite Castel Sant'Angelo and connects the building with the historic city center. This pedestrian bridge, designed by Bernini, is 135m long and is very popular for tourists because of the large amount of beautiful angel sculptures along the bridge. It was used by the pigrims in the early middle ages, and was completed in 134AD by Emperor Hadrian.