Family guide to Castel Sant’Angelo with kids: how to visit, why the kids will love it, essential guide to castle Sant’Angelo for kids to enjoy the castle without a tour.
Castel Sant’Angelo is the castle of Rome one of the best historical sites to see in Rome with kids, even those who are not crazy about history!
The Castle dates from the time of the Roman Empire and then became a fortress, prison, the Pope’s residence and a even an ammunition storage place.
This complex history got it to acquire secret passages, cells, cannons, an armoury, a treasury and endless intriguing stories guaranteed to tickle curious minds.
I am from Rome and love bringing my kids to Castel Sant’Angelo.
We started visiting when they were around age 6 and (you can go even sooner, I’ll get into this below) and have regularly gone ever since.
You can see a photo of us in Castel Sant’Angelo at the bottom of the post, proof we always go to the places we talk about in the blog and have first hand experience of them 🙂
I highly recommend it as a kid-friendly stop for kids of primary school age and up and I am sure adults will love it it as the place truly is impressive and intriguing!
In a previous post I have shared an essential guide to Castel Sant’Angelo. On this page, I focus on visiting Castel Sant’Angelo with kids and share facts that work as a kids’ guide to the Castle.
I hope you and your family love it!
Please note: this post contains affiliate links. Should you make a purchase, I might make a small commission at no extra cost to you
Castel Sant’Angelo with kids: best age to visit
You can visit Castel Sant’Angelo with kids of any age, including babies in carriers. However, I recommend it especially for kids of primary school age and up.
Kids of school age will get the most out of their visit. Also, the castle is not stroller friendly and has high up areas that do not allow for toddlers to roam free.
Castel Sant’Angelo with toddlers
I do not recommend visiting the castle with a toddler. If you do, I recommend you have them in a carrier: the high up passages, stairs and sheer drops make the castle not suitable letting little ones free to Rome.
The castle is not stroller friendly and does not have a wardrobe service so I do not recommend to bring stroller unless it is the type you can fold and carry easily.
How to get kids’s tickets to Castel Sant’Angelo
You can get tickets to Castel Sant’Angelo for kids and adults at the castle ticket office or on the castles’ official website >> http://www.gebart.it/musei/museo-nazionale-di-castel-santangelo/
At present, adult fun fare tickets cost 16 euro per person and kids go free. There is a 1 Euro admin fee applied to online purchases so the final cost is 17 per adult and 1 euro per child.
The tickets are dates and are valid for one access, at any time, during the selected day.
Good to know: while Castel Sant’Angelo doesn’t get the same amount of visitors as the Colosseum or the Vatican, with the recent increase in tourism it can be a good idea to book online to avoid long lines at the entrance desk. This is particularly the case if visiting at the weekends or at busy times such as Easter Break, June, October and Christmas.
You can also purchase tickets on Tiqets – the cost is higher than going direct but they often offer more flexibility + they offer in app discounts on subsequent purchases, so it can be worth it if planning on seeing several different attractions. I have a 5% discount code you can use and that helps bridge the price difference.
What to bring for your visit
You don’t need much or anything really to enjoy a visit to Castel Sant’Angelo.
The castle does not have a dress code and the only recommendation I give is to equip yourself with comfortable shoes as there is a bit of walking to be done inside.
The castles does not have a cloakroom so it is important you only have on you what you can carry easily. No bulky bags such as luggage are allowed: standard size baby bags and small day backpacks are no problem.
The castle is not stroller friendly.
While there is an accessible path for wheelchairs to some parts of the castle, the nature of its architecture means large parts are not accessible with wheels. If visiting with a baby or toddler I recommend a baby carrier for this one.
The castle has toilets and a cafe on top for snacks/ drinks.
Should you go guided or self guided?
You do not need a guided tour to enjoy Castel Sant’Angelo with kids. I only recommended getting a guide if you have a special interest as the information provided by the info panels are sufficient, in my opinion, to get a good idea of the place.
A very quick history of Castel Sant’Angelo for kids – intro
The building we now know as St Angelo Castle did not start its history as a castle at all!
In 123 AD, Roman Emperor Hadrian commissioned the building od a resting place for himself and his family: a mausoleum (tomb).
He wanted his mausoleum to be imposing, spacious, protective and he had imagined it as a resting place of peace and silence.
The tomb looked rather different from the building as we see it now, but we can still see some parts of it.
The mausoleum had a very large square basement and, on top of it, two layers: a larger cylinder and a smaller cylinder on top (not entirely dissimilar for a multi tiered cake).
On top of the top layer there was a green area and a large chariot with the Emperor, triumphant, above it.
Over the course of the centuries however, the building changed use.
First it became part of the new, defensive walls around Rome, then it became a fortress for the Popes, a prison, the residence of Popes and an ammunition stocking area. Therefore its spaces changes use over time as were used as cells, chapels, apartments, storage areas and more.
The castle only became a museum in 1925.
This long history is the reason why the castle has a variety of cool spaces such as the Imperial burial chamber, an armoury, prison cells, secret passages, a treasury and even cannons and cannon balls!
The best things to see in Castel Sant’Angelo with kids – mini guide for kids
Good to know: depending on the needs of the castle, the visitors’s trail may follow an order that it slightly different from the one outlined below so this is not a precise itinerary: it is a list of kid-friendly / things usually interesting for kids you may want to look out for as you explore.
Entrance
The castle entrance, just where the ticket office is, is a great place to see in person the shape of the castle: the curved wall you see is the inner cylinder, the inner part of the castle, where the Emperor’s burial chamber used to be.
Cortile delle Fucilazioni
Cortile delle fucilazioni (literally: firing squad courtyard) is not actually where firing happened (this is just what the people first studying the castle thought it was) but has one interesting thing for kids: a pile of massive ammunitions!
The Atrium
The Atrium is the ancient gate for the funeral procession. At present, the area is not decorated but, at the time, it was! This area would have been decorated with beautiful marble tiles.
Task: look at the walls: can you see holes in it, at regular intervals? When marbles were decorating the walls, they were kept in place by iron brackets. The marbles and brackets are gone, but the holes tell us where they used to be. A little bit like with frames now: if you take a frame and nail out of a wall in your house, the hole will stay. This it the same here!
Archaeologists also know this area used to have a colossal statue of Hadrian.
The access ramp
The access ramp is a wide, spiral ramp that originally led to the Emperor’s burial chamber and now goes to the upper floors of the castle.
This ramp spirals up and was originally built so that the funeral procession could follow the Emperor to his final resting place.
If you look around, you may notice an opening that looks a little like an elevator shaft. Surprisingly, this is just what it is! The shaft of an ancient elevator to make access to the upper floors easier.
The Bastions and Marcia Ronda
The bastions and the walkaway between them are among the best things to see in Castel Sant’Angelo with kids as they are high up, scenic and make it easy to imagine sentinels walking up and down here, guarding the castle!
Sala dalle urne (burial chamber)
Sala delle urne aka urns’ chamber is where the Emperor and his family would have been buries.
The holes in the wall suggest this area was decorated with marbles and we still have inscriptions from ancient times that helped archaeologists understand what this room originally was.
Passetto di Borgo
Passetto di Borgo is the name of a secret corridor that connect Castel Sant’Angelo to the Vatican and St Peter.
The corridor was built to allow the Pope to quickly escape from St Peter’s to the better protected Castle in case of danger.
Top tip! As well as inside the castle, you can see the passetto from outside (now that you know it is there!). Outside of the castle, give your back to the river and walk left: you’ll see a wall starting form the castle and heading towards the Vatican: that is il passetto!
The cells and prison
The castle had a prison and there are several areas devoted to the keeping and trialing of prisoners.
Depending on how important and how dangerous they were, prisoners were kept in small overground cells or underground ones, increasingly uncomfortable and dark.
Before trial, prisoners were kept in the so called ‘parlatoio’ which was were they would confess and then moved to small cells further in the castle.
These cells have very low doors that forced them to bend down to enter, as if they were submitting to the power of the Pope!
The Oliare
The castle needed a lot of oil to stay lit at night and, possibly, also to use as weapon against the enemy, should they be trying to climb up the castle walls (pouring hot oil against the enemy is a known defensive strategy of these times).
In the oliare you can still see 83 vases used to keep all the oil.
Alexander VI courtyard
This is a great courtyard for finding things as there are many coats of arms of important Roman families.
See if your kids cn find the bull of the Borgia, the bees of the Barberini and the lilies of the Farnese family.
In this same courtyard you can usually also see a catapult and its ammunitions.
Angel’s Courtyard
As you came out to daylight, you’ll find yourself in a nice courtyard with a big statue of an angel. The Angel is Michael, and the castle take its name from it.
Fun fact: in the VI century, the plague spread among the people of Rome. One day, after years of suffering, the people so Archangel Michael appear on top of Hadrian’s Tomb.
The angel was holding a sword and seemed to be putting it aways, as if to sign that the battle against the plague was over. Indeed, the plague ended: the people of Rome considered this a miracle and named the castle after the angel who announced it!
Sala Di Apollo (Apollo’s Room), Sala di Perseo, Sala di Amore and Psyche
Over time, the castle developed from a simple fortress to a castle that also had rooms for the Popes to live and stay, rooms that therefore were elegantly decorated.
Idea: if your kids love mythology or Percy Jackson, they may enjoy trying to identify the different rooms by their decorations. One has decorations about the God Apollo, another one has the myth of Perseus and on the story of Pros and Psyche.
All these frescos follow a special style called ‘grottesche’ and are inspired by the paintings in the Domus Aurea (Emperor’s Nero ancient palace) that was being explored at the time.
Similar style frescoes decorate the ceiling of many of the outdoor terraces on the upper level of the castle.
Sala Paolina
Among the many beautiful rooms of the castle Sala Paolina is made the most impressive of all. I find it one of the best things to see in Castel Sant’Angelo with kids to experience the castle as the Pope’s residence, as opposed to a fortress or a prison.
Idea: ask your kids if they can can you find two baboons in the frescoes? Apparently, this is to remember a gift of two baboons sent to the Pope!
The armoury
The armoury is just what you think it is and kids tend to love it as you can see the weapons used to attack and defend the castle and the type of equipment a warrior would have had in battle.
The treasury
The key to the treasury was responsibility of the secret treasurer of the Pople and a high profile Cardinal.
The treasury had secret documents, precious objects and a large safe with 6 locks with the State Treasure and gold coins. The keys to these locks were in the hands of six different people so no one person could have easy access.
The Top Terrace: Terrazza dell’Angelo (Angel’s Terrace)
You made it to the top! Look up to see the massive statue of the angel and then admire the views of the city. Can you see the river? St Peter’s? Can you the Colosseum?
Fun fact: since the terrace is so high and open, it is an idea spot for fireworks and not just modern ones! Fireworks have been happening here since 1400s: they were called Michelangelo’s Girandola.
Castel Sant’Angelo with kids – pin this!
