ST PETER'S ROME

St Peter's : the basilica, the square, the Baroque art

St Peter's Rome - History
In the heart of Rome, in the middle of the head office of Papal State, St Peter's square is maybe the most famous square in the world, thanks to the Pope's speeches.
Planned in the middle of 1600 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, it is one of the world masterpiece of Baroque architecture. The urbanistic plan as we see it is due to the building, in 1936, of a new street  - under Fascism - to celebrate agreement between the Pope and the Italian country in 1929.

St Peter's Rome - Description
An imposing colonnade (four lines of 284 columns, 88 pillars and 140 statues of Saints) surrounds the square and traces his shape. The central colonnade accompanies the spectator’s sight to the entrance of San Pietro Basilica, while the lateral columns seem to symbolize the embrace of the church to his people. Such a structure stands out the attitude of Baroque art, beloved to Bernini, to create the optical and moving effects that give the impression of walking along the colonnade. In the front of San Pietro basilica, in the middle of the square, there is an Egyptian obelisk, forty meters high, dating back to the XIII century A.D. Brought to Rome in the I century the obelisk was collocated in San Pietro square in 1985 at Papa Sisto V’s will, according to the Roman Baroque tradition.
Near to the obelisk there is the fire of the ellipsis, in a point indicated by a circular stone on the square, by which the colonnade seems formed not by four but only one line of columns. On the sides of the obelisk there are two fountains, planned by Carlo Maderno and Carlo Fontana, respectively in 1613 and 1677.
To the San Pietro Basilica it was possible to accede only by two narrow roads closed by high mansions and the surprise effect, just entered in the square, was considerable. In fact, according to Gian Lorenzo Bernini the colonnade should guide the spectator’s eye to the entrance of the basilica and to Michelangelo’s majestic cupola.

St Peter's Rome - How to arrive
St Peter's in Rome is easily reachable by underground (Ottaviano-San Pietro stop, line A) or by train, line F3.

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