☰St. Peter's Square

Bernini's great oval colonnade, designed in the 1650s to welcome pilgrims arriving from the city. The colonnade is lined with 140 statues of saints and frames one of the most theatrical public spaces in the world. At the centre stands a 25-metre Egyptian obelisk, brought to Rome by Caligula in 37 AD. The square is always open and always crowded. Worth visiting at dawn if you can manage it, when the light is good and the tour groups haven't arrived. On Sundays the Pope appears at the window of the Apostolic Palace at noon to deliver the Angelus blessing.