Pietà (Michelangelo)
At 24 he carved grief so convincingly that onlookers credited a rival sculptor instead.
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The only work Michelangelo ever signed, cut from Carrara marble in 1498-99: Mary cradling her dead son, a pyramid of drapery that solves the near-impossible problem of balancing a grown man across a woman's lap.
What to look for
- The signature band across Mary's chest, MICHAELANGELVS BONAROTVS FLORENTINVS FACIEBAT, which he added after overhearing the work credited to a rival, then regretted.
- Mary's face, younger than her dead son's, a choice Michelangelo defended by saying chaste women keep their freshness.
- The bulletproof glass: in 1972 a man landed 15 hammer blows, breaking Mary's arm at the elbow and chipping her nose and eyelid.
First chapel on the right just inside St. Peter's entrance; you view it from behind glass, so come close.
Pietà (Michelangelo) is one of 40 sights worth the detour in Rome, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Rome pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Rome
- Vatican CityThe world's smallest sovereign state fits in 44 hectares — you cross its border by stepping over a white line.
- ColosseumAround 50,000 Romans packed this stone oval to watch spectacles staged over a two-level warren of cages beneath the arena floor.
- St. Peter's BasilicaThe world's largest church, built directly over the grave believed to hold St. Peter's bones.
- Sistine ChapelMichelangelo painted the ceiling standing up, not on his back — and cardinals still elect the pope in this room.
- PantheonA 1,900-year-old concrete dome with a hole punched in the top — when it rains in Rome, it rains inside too.
- Stadio OlimpicoOne 70,634-seat bowl, two cross-town tenants: AS Roma and SS Lazio both play here.