Pantheon (Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres)

One of the most famous buildings in Rome. Erected in 27 B.C. by the son-in-law of Augustus Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, as recalls the inscription on the facade, it was rebuilt from 118-125 A.D. by Hadrian. In 608, Emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Bonifacio IV and it was transformed into a church and given the name Santa Maria ad Martyres. In 1625, the bronze from the beams of the portico were taken by Urban VIII to make 80 cannons for Castel Sant'Angelo and, above all, to make the four columns of the baldachin by Bernini at Saint Peter's.  The artists Raphael, Annibale Carracci and Baldassarre Peruzzi are buried here, as well as members of the royal Savoy family, Vittorio Emanuele II, Umberto I and Margherita.