Climb the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome
Written by Heather CowperWhen I visited Rome last spring, we were staying a stone’s throw from St Peter’s square, and so we took the opportunity to visit the dome of St Peter’s basilica one afternoon, after we had already spent the morning sightseeing. The entrance is to the right of the main basilica and we had to queue for about half an hour and paid €7 to take the lift to the bottom of the dome. From there you go through a door and up a ramp into the base of the dome where you can look straight down into the basilica below or up at the rich decoration on the inside of the dome.
You get a close-up view there of the wonderful mosaics – they looked so fresh that they could have been created yesterday. There were these coats of arms above the doorways and oversize cherubs all round the perimeter. But that’s only the start of the dome, for then we went through another door and started climbing the 320 steps to bring you out at the top of the dome. The steps wind round and round and as you get higher they get narrower and the roof slopes inwards, forcing you to lean at an angle.
When we got to the top it was very crowded and every space was taken up by a person trying to get a photo or admire the view. If you feel claustrophobic I’d probably not advise going up, or try to go up very early or when there aren’t so many people. From one side you look down onto the Piazza and the Bernini colonade and from the other you get a great view into the Pope’s back garden, which looked beautiful.
When you’ve seen enough of the 360 degree views you descend to an outdoor terrace at the base of the dome where you can get close to the back of Bernini’s huge statues of the saints which line the front of the Basilica and round the colonade. Apparently there are 162 of them, and I noticed that they hadn’t bothered to carve many of them at the back. There’s also a place to buy coffee and a gift shop with lots of religious souvenirs.
Then we descended in the lift again to the piazza – it’s definitely worth going up to see those amazing mosaics and the views of Rome, but not to be recommended if you are unfit or don’t like confined spaces.
Photos by Heatheronhertravels
I wish I would have had the opportunity to climb to the top!
@ Lizelle
It was well worth the climb for the views and the experience of seeing the dome close up from the inside and outside, but very crowded which was not so great.
[...] Climb to Dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome – It’s an amazing experience to climb up inside the Dome of St Peter’s and see the gorgeous mosaics close up, then up the narrow enclosed staircase to the top for 360 degree views of Rome and the Pope’s back garden. I wouldn’t recommend it for the claustrophobic though. [...]
[...] downright dodgy, up the Cathedral tower in Valencia and the ultimate in Church tower climbs at the Dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where the crowds were just a pressing at the top as the bottom. In all cases the view was wonderful [...]