Castles and Cats of Rome

Apr 8, 2017
1 min read

We have seen Hadrian's Villa, so the next place on our list only made sense to be his castle.

He actually built it as a tomb for himself and his family.

Pretty morbid actually when you think about it.

it then grew and changed. later it became a fortress and castle.

Then it was used for executions and prisoners.

Also as a papal refuse in times of trouble, with a private raised walkway from the castle to The Vatican.

The outside looks pretty imposing - a large and impenetrable cylinder.

DSCF6646
DSCF6648

The fortress has quite a few items dotted about - replica's I assume? Still looks good!

DSCF6651
DSCF6650
DSCF6653

The original flooring - Walking in ancient footsteps.

The papal rooms are crazy richly decorated - weird to think not far away are the prisoners dungeons.

DSCF6678
DSCF6693
DSCF6665
DSCF6663
DSCF6664
DSCF6674

The Castle got it name from the Archangel Michael. Legend has it, the angel appeared on top of the castle and sheathed a flaming sword. This signaled the end of a plague in 590, so they names the castle Sant'Angelo.

DSCF6680
DSCF6685
DSCF6687
DSCF6686
DSCF6688
DSCF6689

We found a little place just off the main tourist stress, and went for their antipasti. It was totally different to what we have had before - not to my taste as it has lots of pickled vegetables, which I found a bit mushy and vingary.

But on the plus side - it also came with meatballs, hams, mozzarella, bread and a lentil dish.

And that was antipasti for one!