Via Piccolomini

Via Nicolò Piccolomini, not far from the Gianicolo, between Via Aurelia Antica and Via Leone XIII, is a famous street from which you can see Michelangelo's "Cupolone" ("Big Dome"), as the Romans affectionately call it, from an ideal (and unusual) perspective, with a view of Roman countryside in the heart of Rome in the foreground. This vision, aside from its emotional impact, reveals a strange optical illusion, one of the many "magnificent deceptions" that lie hidden in the Eternal City. As you proceed in the direction of St. Peter, the dome appears to shrink instead of becoming larger. The illusion is created by the architectural proportions of the volumes: for the first 50 metres, the eye sees only the dome in all its grandeur, framed by buildings to the right and left. Continuing further, the eye begins to perceive the space differently, becoming aware of the background and creating a new perception in which the dome appears to be more distant. Even once the secret is revealed, it is still worth going to see it in person!