Description
The Pantheon fast-track ticket with audio guide turns the visit into a conversation with the people tied to the building. You pick the ticket up at San Lorenzo in Lucina, a basilica close to the temple, then go past the line while the story starts in your headphones.
The first voice is Hadrian, the emperor who gave the temple the form it has today and who recalls his love for Rome. Under the dome, 43.44 metres wide, you learn how the oculus lets in sunlight that moves across the interior much as a sundial would. Pope Boniface IV then explains how, in 609 AD, he turned the temple into a church to Mary and all Martyrs, which spared it from plunder.
- The portico with its pink granite columns from Egypt
- The tomb of Raphael, painter and architect, among other Renaissance artists
- The resting place of Queen Margherita, next to Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, kings of the House of Savoy
Other stories include the red rose petals that fall from the oculus at Pentecost each year. Monsignor Daniele Micheletti, the archpriest of the Pantheon, closes with a look at the building as a living church. The narration is performed by actors including Sergio Rubini and Alessandro Haber, over music by Antonio Fresa performed by the Teatro La Fenice orchestra. Part of the proceeds goes to the Chapter of Santa Maria ad Martyres.