Rome 2018: St Peter’s Square

Italy 2018 posts (and my normal Monday-Wednesday-Friday publishing schedule) are resuming today!

At the end of a very long walk my parents and I finally arrived at St Peter’s Square in Vatican City. The square was full of visitors—and people selling guided tours—and we stopped in the square for a few minutes before moving on towards the Vatican Museums. We’d return to St Peter’s Square later in the day once we finished visiting the museums and the Sistine Chapel.

St Peter’s Square is one of the greatest squares in Europe and for a lot of people it’s their starting point for touring Vatican City. The obelisk in the center of the square was imported from Egypt in 37 AD and it was moved to its current location in 1586. An old church legend says that St Peter was executed at the place where the obelisk used to stand in Rome. The colonnades extending out from St Peter’s Basilica around the square are meant to feel like arms coming out of the church to embrace the worshipers who would gather here. On most Wednesday mornings you can attend a Papal Audience at St Peter’s Square (advanced tickets required) to see the pope delivering a short sermon, followed by prayers and blessings. My parents and I had arrived at St Peter’s Square too late in the day for this so we missed out on getting a photo of Pope Francis or his famed Popemobile.