Step Into the Largest Church in the World
You come at St. Peter's the way most people do, along Via della Conciliazione, and the dome is already there above the rooftops before the square opens out. Then the colonnades take over: Bernini's lateral colonnades, 284 Doric columns topped by 140 statues of saints, curving around the oval forecourt and then the trapezoidal one, closing the city out and funnelling you toward Carlo Maderno's façade. At the top of the steps stand two statues of the first-century apostles to Rome, Saints Peter and Paul. You are standing in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within Rome, and about to enter a church that has been described as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom."
It is worth your time for reasons both architectural and otherwise. The present basilica was begun on 18 April 1506 under Pope Julius II, replacing the fourth-century Constantinian church, and was solemnly dedicated on 18 November 1626. Its form passed through the hands of Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, and Carlo Maderno, with the piazza and fittings by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Catholic tradition holds that it is the burial site of Saint Peter, whose tomb lies directly below the high altar, the Altar of the Confession. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not a cathedral — that title belongs to the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran — but it remains one of the holiest Catholic shrines and the largest church in the world by interior measure.
What You Actually See Inside
The interior overwhelms by scale before it does by detail. One writer described the effect: as you watch people draw near to this or that monument, they seem to shrink, dwarfed by the scale of everything in the building. The nave runs in three bays beneath a barrel vault, the highest of any church, framed by wide aisles with chapels off them, and chapels also surround the dome.
- The dome and its four piers. The central space is dominated by one of the largest domes in the world, its interior mosaic depicting Christ and the Apostles with busts of popes and saints. Set into the niches of the four gargantuan supporting piers are colossal statues of the four major holy relics believed to be held here: St. Longinus with his spear, St. Helena with the True Cross, St. Veronica with her veil, and St. Andrew.
- Bernini's baldachin. Over the Papal Altar stands the bronze canopy on four twisted columns, erected between 1624 and 1633, made of bronze taken from the Pantheon.
- Michelangelo's Pietà. In the Chapel of the Pietà, off the right nave, the sculpture he carved in his early twenties, now protected behind glass since the attack on it in 1972.
- The bronze St. Peter. At the end of the central nave, the statue of St. Peter giving his blessing, its foot worn smooth by the hands of the faithful.
- The Confessio. At the heart of the basilica, beneath the high altar, two curving marble staircases lead down to the Chapel of the Confession, at the level of the Constantinian church and immediately above the purported burial place of Saint Peter.
- The Vatican Grottoes. Beneath the basilica floor, the tombs of Saint Peter and of popes, including John Paul II.
- The apse. Bernini's sculptural ensemble containing the symbolic Chair of Saint Peter.
- The floor of the central nave. Golden stars in the marble mark the lengths of other large churches worldwide, measured from apse to entrance — a quiet lesson in just how far you have walked.
- The Holy Door. One of the decorated bronze doors leading from the narthex, opened only during jubilees.
Around the walls you pass tombs of popes and other notable figures, many considered outstanding artworks in their own right, and a long sequence of chapels — the Baptistery, the Choir Chapel, the Clementine Chapel, the Gregorian Chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, and more — each with its own altars and sculpture.
How to Make the Most of Your Visit
Entrance is free, which is precisely why the queues form. Book a guided tour or an audio guide in advance if you want to skip the line; tours can be combined with the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, or Castel Sant'Angelo. Go early in the day, when the basilica opens and the light through the dome is at its best and the crowd is thinnest.
Mind the calendar as well as the clock. For religious reasons, on Wednesdays, Sundays, and feast days entrance is allowed only after 13:00 — and the pope presides at liturgies throughout the year in the basilica or the adjoining square, drawing audiences from 15,000 to over 80,000. If you want the building rather than the ceremony, plan around those days.
Dress for it. St. Peter's is known for turning away visitors with uncovered knees, shoulders, or midriffs, and you generally won't be told until you reach the entrance — after the walk to the Vatican and the security line. Wear longer trousers or a skirt below the knee and cover your shoulders. Vendors outside sell inexpensive scarves if you forget.
Give it time. The basilica rewards an unhurried hour or two: the Pietà, the baldachin, the bronze St. Peter, the Confessio, and the grottoes are each worth standing still for. If you can, climb to the top of the cupola — the stairway uses cantilevered planks of terra-cotta from Ferentino — for the view back over Rome. And don't miss the one thing people hurry past: the floor of the nave, where the golden stars record the length of the world's other great churches against St. Peter's own.
What Else Is Close By
You are in the Vatican area, so the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel are a short walk along the Vatican walls. Heading back toward the river along Via della Conciliazione brings you to Castel Sant'Angelo, built under Emperor Hadrian as his mausoleum and later linked to the Vatican by the fortified corridor known as the Passetto. Across the Tiber and into the historic centre, the Pantheon waits — remarkably well preserved for a building dating to 125 AD. A little further afield, ancient Rome spreads out around the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill, all within reach on a longer day of walking or a short ride on the metro.
Start with the calendar: pick a weekday morning, check that no feast day will keep the doors shut until afternoon, and set out your clothes the night before. Then walk up Via della Conciliazione, let the colonnades close around you, and give the basilica the hours it asks for. The dome will be there when you look up — and the floor beneath your feet will tell you, star by golden star, just how much there is to see.