Built,
as was the Elian bridge in front, by the Emperor
Hadrian (117-138) as a Mausoleum for himself and
his successors, it was completed by Antoninus
Pius in 139. In 271, the Emperor Aurelian incorporated
the pile into the defence system he designed:
it lost its function as a tomb to become a fortress.
In 1277 it was occupied by Nicholas II who connected
it to the Vatican by the famous corridor, a safety
passage which runs along the top of the encircling
wall of the Vatican. Hencefort, it remained under
the control of the Popes who used it as a fortress,
to impress, but also as a prison and a place for
torture. |
