Castel Sant'Angelo

The Castel Sant'Angelo, initially known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian, is a fortress located in Rome, reachable via the Ponte Sant'Angelo. It is an end point to the Passetto di Borgo, and is found on the banks of the Tiber river.

The castle was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a tomb for himself and his family. Later, during the Renaissance, the building was used by the Papacy as a fortress, castle, and prison.

History

Roman era

The tomb of Hadrian, also called Hadrian's mole, was constructed between 135 and 139. It was originally a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga.

Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in 138, together with those of his wife and his first adopted son, who died that same year. Furthermore, the remains of succeeding emperors were placed here as well. Hadrian also built the Ponte Sant'Angelo, formerly known as Pons Aelius, to connect the tomb to the rest of Rome.

Destruction

Much of the tomb's contents and decorations were destroyed once the building was converted into a military fortress in 401. The urns and ashes were scattered by looters during Alaric's sacking of Rome in 410, and the original decorations were thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537.

Liberation of Rome

On 28 December 1499, the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze scaled the castle during his infiltration of the Cappella Sistina, in order to assassinate Pope Alexander VI.

Ezio talking with an imprisoned Caterina

In 1501, upon Ezio's return to Rome, he infiltrated the Castel Sant'Angelo to rescue an imprisoned Caterina Sforza and assassinate Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia. However, while he successfully rescued Caterina, he was unable to kill either of the Templars, after he discovered that Rodrigo was away from the castle and that Cesare had left for Urbino moments after Ezio's arrival.

Soon after this assault, the castle came to be guarded by several Papal Guards and French soldiers, courtesy of Cesare's alliance with the French General Octavian de Valois.

In August 1503, Ezio once again infiltrated the Castel Sant'Angelo through a side gate, with a key he had obtained from Lucrezia Borgia's lover, Pietro Rossi. At a window looking into the castle's Papal apartments, he witnessed the murder of Rodrigo at the hands of Cesare, after the former refused to give him the Apple of Eden. Ezio subsequently discovered the Apple's whereabouts from Lucrezia, and left the castle to retrieve it before Cesare.

Following his arrest in December 1503, Cesare was imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo until he managed to escape in 1504. After he was re-captured by Ezio as he tried to flee Rome on the Tiber, Pope Julius II decided to send Cesare to a more secure prison in Spain.

Around 1506, while working with the Italian Assassins, Sirus Favero tasked Lo Sparviero, the Assassin sent by Niccolò Machiavelli, to intercept a Crow messenger and recover an important document from him. The messenger soon appeared on the Ponte Sant'Angelo, and Lo Sparviero killed him to retrieve the letter. He then met with Sirus again at Castel Sant'Angelo to hand him the letter, though he noticed his suspicious behavior. Deciding to follow him, the Assassin discovered that Sirus was the leader of the Crows, known as "Il Corvo", and fell into an ambush from which he had to escape.

A few weeks later, Machiavelli learned from a document intercepted by Lo Sparviero that Sirus was summoning all of his Crows to organize an attack against the Assassins in Rome. Together with Lo Sparviero, he traveled to the Ponte Sant'Angelo, where Machiavelli watched as Lo Sparviero crossed underneath the heavily guarded bridge to reach the castle. After Lo Sparviero assassinated Sirus and his bodyguards, the surviving Crows surrendered.

In May 1519, members of the local chapter of the Assassins visited the Castel as part of their search for the clues to the havens Leonardo da Vinci hid in the city. There, the Assassins infiltrated the administrator's study, where important items intercepted by the Papal authorities were kept. Searching through the writing desk, they found a reproduction of one of the Sistine Chapel's frescos among many licencious images. Climbing down the stairs towards the dungeon led to a skirmish with the guards, which, in turn, allowed the Assassins to retrieve the cell keys from the captain. They then freed two prisoners, a man who ran away in tears and a woman who thanked them for liberating her. She claimed she had been arrested because she had been hiding something, handing a small reproduction to her saviors, mentioning that Leonardo had been correct in trusting them.

Modern times

In 2016, the Castel Sant'Angelo was used as a simulated location by Abstergo Entertainment for their Identity Project. Like most of the simulated locations in the project, the castle had two aesthetic variations, and as such, could be utilized during sunset or daybreak.

Trivia

• After climbing the flagpole and looking out at the cityscape, clouds appeared below the pole itself.
• One of Clay Kaczmarek's rifts was located at the Castel Sant'Angelo, on the main tower just across from the inner wall.
• The entire castle was a restricted area throughout Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, with the exception of certain memories, such as "The Ezio Auditore Affair."
• The achievement "Fly Like An Eagle" can be earned by having Ezio jump from the castle's peak with a parachute. Upon ascending, the background music marking the area as a restricted zone will stop and cue up the track "City of Rome", which usually only plays when the Centro district is liberated, despite the building being in the Vaticano district. The track "Borgia, the Rulers of Rome" may also play instead, which is often used when the Borgia still hold most of the Centro District. Strangely, this track may play even if the district is free from Borgia control.

Gallery

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  Environment art of the castle
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  Environment art of the castle
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  Interior of the castle
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  An overview of the castle
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  Niccolò and Ezio, with the castle in the background
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  Database image in Assassin's Creed II
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  Database image in Brotherhood
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  Database image in Identity
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  Map of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Identity
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  Concept art of the Ponte and Castel Sant'Angelo in Identity
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  Concept art of the castle
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  Concept art of the Ponte and Castel in Identity
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  Concept art of the courtyard of Castel Sant'Angelo

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Ascendance
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
  • The Da Vinci Disappearance
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel
• Assassin's Creed: Identity
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Last Quest of Leonardo da Vinci