Saint Peter's Dome from Aurelio, Rome Live Cam

The dome of Saint Peter's Basilica rises above umbrella pines and the Vatican walls in this view from the Aurelio district of Rome. Behind it, city rooftops spread towards a line of hills on the eastern horizon.

Michelangelo designed the dome, which Giacomo della Porta completed in 1590, and its cross stands about 136 metres above the ground. The basilica lies inside Vatican City, the smallest state in the world, ringed by walls with battlements. The camera is about two kilometres to the west, in the district named after the ancient Via Aurelia.

The camera rotates between close and wide shots of the dome, the apartment blocks and pine woods of western Rome and a hill with a telecommunications mast. At night it usually stays on the floodlit dome, and on clear mornings the sun rises behind it, turning the basilica into a silhouette.