Basilica Sancti Petri

Father Steve Leake's blog, Da Mihi Animas, promotes, on a daily basis, insightful commentary, excellent videos and pertinent information about the Vatican, Roman Catholicism and all aspects of the faith, in general.

As per the above video, an insider's view:

The Basilica of Saint Peter (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City.it is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and,was the first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession. While St. Peter's is the most famous of Rome's many churches, it is not the first in rank, an honour held by the Pope's cathedral church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Saint Peter's tomb is below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century.

God willing, I will be traveling to Rome early next summer, so I can see many of these monuments & historic landmarks first hand...