Cappella Sistina

The Capella Sistina, or Sistine Chapel, was the chapel of the Pope in Rome, and center of the Catholic faith.

In 1492, Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI, and moved into St. Peter's Basilica, of which the Sistine Chapel is a part. Seven years later, in 1499, Ezio Auditore infiltrated the chapel in order to assassinate Rodrigo Borgia and locate the Vault, which he had learned was built beneath the Basilica. After a brutal fight with Rodrigo in which two Pieces of Eden (the Sixth Apple and the Papal Staff) were used, Ezio was tricked and stabbed by Rodrigo (who had used the Staff's power to immobilize Ezio), before promptly blacking out. Upon waking, Ezio pressed two hidden buttons at the back of the Chapel that opened the way into the Vault, a structure built by Those Who Came Before, whose entrance lay in a pit-like enclosure. It was at this entrance that Ezio would confront Rodrigo in a final, victorious fight.

The Capella Sistina is also featured at the start of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, picking up right where the previous game ended, with Ezio inside the Vault of the Capella. Soon after he left the Vault, Mario appeared and beckoned him to leave the Capella, which Ezio did.

Database Entry
Inspired by the architecture of Solomon's Temple, the Sistine Chapel is the most famous room in the Apostolic Palace (the Pope's Vatican residence). The Chapel's famous ceiling frescos did not exist yet in 1503 (Michelangelo wouldn't be working for the Vatican until the papacy of Julius II, right after the events of the games), so no climbing across the finger of God, but the wall paintings that line the chapel painted by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio, among others, are an ample consolation prize.

As the Pope's personal chapel, mass is frequently held inside, as are the Papal Conclaves, which occur after the Pope's death. The cardinals are locked inside the chapel and are not permitted to leave until a new Pope is elected. Only through smoke signals, sent up a chimney to announce the new Pope, can they escape.