Friday 31 January 2025 08:01
Jubilee 2025: the Passetto di Borgo re-opens to the public
One of the special events of the Jubilee 2025 is the extraordinary reopening of the Passetto di Borgo, so closely linked to the history of Castel Sant’Angelo and (of course!) to the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica. This site has been closed for six years, the time needed to work on the structural barriers that […]
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One of the special events of the
Jubilee 2025
is the extraordinary reopening of the Passetto di Borgo, so closely linked to the history of Castel Sant’Angelo and (of course!) to the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica. This site has been closed for six years, the time needed to work on the structural barriers that prevented access to visitors with a walking disability.For the uninitiated, imagine the Passetto di Borgo as a corridor, but an elevated one: it connects the Vatican with the Castel Sant’Angelo. “Passetto” means “small passage”, “Borgo”, of course, is the historical district that has always been inextricably linked to the events of Vatican City. Its privileged position that makes it a unique observer of papal history.
This extraordinary corridor (or “Corridore,” as it was called in the Middle Ages) was home to centuries of dramatic events.
Its strategic importance became apparent in 1494, when the structure allowed Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) to take refuge in Castel Sant’Angelo during the invasion of Charles VIII of France, but even more so during the Sack of Rome in 1527, when Pope Clement VII managed to escape from the imperial troops of Charles V who were advancing on the city.
About 800 meters long and almost invisible from below, the Passetto di Borgo is not only an escape route, but also a complex work of architecture, along with a means of communication and movement reserved for the high ecclesiastical hierarchies: not only pontiffs, but also cardinals, archbishops…
The guided tours, created in collaboration with an old acquaintance of tourists such as CoopCulture (those of Colosseum fame!) and available on that website as well as on the app and the dedicated platform Musei Italiani, are currently available until the end of February, but only because they are offered from month to month.
At this address
you can choose between three different ways to visit, one of them at night.
