St. Peter's Basilica
Vatican City
Rome Italy
2016

Looking for magic in the Eternal City? On top of a residential hillside lies a street with truly spectacular views of Saint Peter’s Basilica, including its famous dome. From this street, Via Niccolò Piccolomini, enjoy the magical illusion of seeing the dome appear closer as you move farther away and appear further away as you move closer. An illusion of perspective, this view of the dome is a perfect way to begin a day touring Rome.

While quite a few masters including Bramante, Bernini, and Raphael contributed to the beauty of Saint Peter’s Basilica, it was only Michelangelo who designed the magnificent dome. Remarkably, he started this project at the age of 71 years old. But when Michelangelo died in 1564, his student successfully continued Michelangelo’s vision, finishing the dome in 1590.

A model for numerous other domes, including the United States Capitol Building, St. Peter’s Dome has a height of 136 meters and an internal diameter of 42 meters, making it one of the largest domes in the world.

Arguably one of the most interesting ways to experience St. Peter’s Dome is by climbing its 491 stairs to the top and seeing the remarkable view of Rome. With a narrow, dark, cramped stairwell and a rope to hold onto, this climb is best for those who are as curious as they are energetic.

St. Peter’s Dome and Michelangelo was undoubtedly inspired by the Pantheon. Although the Pantheon was built centuries earlier, in 125 AD, St. Peter’s is located only a few kilometers away in Rome’s historical center.

Not only did the magnificent Pantheon greatly influence the design of the dome in St. Peter’s, there is also speculation that much of the bronze used to create the canopy within St. Peter’s Basilica came directly from the Pantheon’s roof.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica

The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of 136.57 metres (448.1 ft) from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the tallest dome in the world. Its internal diameter is 41.47 metres (136.1 ft), slightly smaller than two of the three other huge domes that preceded it, those of the Pantheon of Ancient Rome, 43.3 metres (142 ft), and Florence Cathedral of the Early Renaissance, 44 metres (144 ft). It has a greater diameter by approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) than Constantinople's Hagia Sophia church, completed in 537. It was to the domes of the Pantheon and Florence duomo that the architects of St. Peter's looked for solutions as to how to go about building what was conceived, from the outset, as the greatest dome of Christendom.