St Peter's Square in Rome
St Peter's Square in Rome stands in front of St Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican.
Built after the basilica, it was commissioned from Bernini by Pope Alexander VII. Bernini imagined the square as a space composed of two arms that welcome the crowds of pilgrims.
Getting there: Ottaviano – San Pietro metro station or by bus lines 23, 34, 60, 62, …
Address: Piazza San Pietro
Ticket prices: Free.
St Peter's Square in Rome, with its 184 metres in width by 140 metres in length for its elliptical part, is truly impressive and majestic! It is bordered by two great colonnades of 4 rows of 284 columns that define the square. In addition to these Doric columns, 88 pilasters and 140 statues of saints complete the ensemble.
On the square itself only two large fountains, by Maderno and by Bernini, frame an obelisk from the former Circus of Caligula. This circus, where the martyrdom of St Peter took place, now lies on the site of the Vatican Gardens.
Between the fountains and the obelisk you will find two stones set in the ground marked Centro del Colonnato. From this point the different rows of columns form only a single line, the first masking the three behind it!
The square gives you access to St Peter's Basilica.
