Leaving Piazza San Bernardo, adorned by Moses’ Fountain, the itinerary will continue passing by Via Veneto and Villa “Borghese”, surname of a family of Italian noble and papal background. Then we will reach the fortress “Castel Sant’Angelo”, which the original structure was built between the 117 and 138 A.D. and was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family.
Castel Sant’Angelo, whose name probably is the result of a miraculous apparition of Archangel St. Michael sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590 A.D., passed under the Papal State’s property converting it in a fortress –prison, in a castle and in a refuge for the Popes: Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St. Perter’s Basilica by a covered fortified corridor, a secret passage way called “Passetto del Borgo”.
Ended the visit of the fortress we’ll walk along Via della Conciliazione – having a wonderful panoramic view of the Basilica of St. Peter, to reach the square for the Holy Father’s Blessing.