Castel Sant'Angelo with an Audio Guide and the Armoury

Skip-the-line entry with an audio guide included, in a choice of languages, which suits anyone who wants the history without walking at a group's pace. The collection is worth knowing about in advance, because most descriptions stop at the terrace. Inside the castle there are rooms of arms and armour, accumulated across the centuries when the building was a working garrison rather than a museum: this was the place the popes kept what they would need if the walls were tested, and several times they were. The exhibits are laid out through the upper floors alongside the paintings and the furnishings. The route also runs through the old corridors along the ramparts. The Passetto di Borgo, the covered passage to the Vatican, is part of the same defensive system; it opens only at certain times of year and is often not accessible, so check its status before booking if it is the reason you are coming. Outside, the drum of Hadrian's tomb with the bronze archangel on top. Inside, the climb. At the end, the terrace over the Tiber, St Peter's and the Vatican beyond it.