![Staircase going down at the St. Peter's Basilica from the cupola.](https://i0.wp.com/www.imagebyandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Spiraling-Down.jpeg?resize=684%2C1024&ssl=1)
To get to the cupola at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy, you have to climb a lot of steps. While I didn’t count them, reports range from around 500 to 550 steps. If you “cheat” and take the elevator to an upper level of the church you can trim that number to about 320.
Not the easiest of journeys up, the journey down is just as wacky as the stairs are just as uneven, winding, and cramped as walking to the top.
(Picture from: St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy.)