From the top of St. Peter‘s Dome

38 comments
  1. The view is great but what I like the most is the way up there. At some point you’re going up the stairs in the curved part of the dome and the corridor starts leaning to one side so you basically have to walk at an angle. Also super scary when it goes through the balcony inside and you can see the tiny people below in the church.

  2. Many years ago I used to work in Rome for weeks at a time.

    I would stay in a hotel at the bottom right of this picture and every morning I would walk through the square and down the Main Street then cross over the bridge to the right opposite the castle on my way to work.. Spent many nights drinking and smoking in the moat of the castle.

    I miss those times badly.

  3. Fun fact: the street from the square to the river was created in the 1930s. Originaly the square was enclosed.

  4. did you go up in the elevator or did you take the stairs seeing all the details of the construction and paintings? I took the stairs.

  5. Totally disconnected question, does anyone know the name of those trees on the right side of the image, whose crowns make this flat thatch? I once had been in a garden, during night hours, with those as a literal roof many metres up, glowglobes all over. One of the prettiest sights in my life, though I never found their name out.

  6. For me, the most vivid memory of looking down from the top of St. Peter’s was seeing the Sistine Chapel roof. I mean, everyone talks about the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but how would that look today without a well-maintained roof? If I were ever elected Pope, the first question I’d ask after the smoke cleared would be, “Who’s looking after that roof?”

  7. Climbing the dome was one of the worst experience of my life as a claustrophobic person. The reward is great, the view is incredible on top of the dome, but I really thought I would die there…

    And there is no sign to warm you that you have to climb hundreds of steps in extremely narrow corridors.

    But great picture!!

Leave a Reply