Skip the Line: Colosseum and Ancient Rome Small-Group Walking Tour Including Pantheon and Piazza Navona
Rome
Price: €60
Min age: 0
Rating 4.18 / 5 [915 ratings]
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Travel bucket list idea:
Rome, Lazio, Italy
|Credit Shutterstock.com/Resul Muslu
One of Rome’s best-preserved landmarks, the Pantheon was originally a temple to the Gods. Rebuilt by Hadrian in AD 118 – it has been a church ever since 609.
Inside the original bronze doors, the astonishing 43m dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world; as a compliment to it, Michelangelo made the cupola of St. Peter’s a touch smaller. Originally the entire dome ceiling was covered with bronze plates, until Bernini convinced the Pope to let him strip them off to make the baldacchino in St. Peter’s – and there was enough bronze left over for 60 cannons.
Raphael and the first two kings of Italy are buried here.
The nearest metro stop is Barberini.
Even though the queues may be long to enter, they move quickly. Entrance is free on weekdays, but on weekends you must book a 45-minute guided tour, or if you prefer to go it alone, buy a 35-minute audio guide from the website. Both include your entry ticket.
The basilica is open all year round, seven days a week. The Pantheon is still a church however: if you turn up during a Mass (notably on Sunday mornings) you won’t be admitted.
To avoid the queues, go midweek and/or in the early morning. It’s a spectacular sight during a storm, when the water comes pouring through the oculus onto the floor.
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