On August 2017, after about six years of technical upgrades, Advanced Virgo joined the two Advanced LIGO detectors in their second observing run. The direct detection of gravitational waves confirmed a key prediction of General Relativity 100 years after its formulation. With the joint detection of GW signals from the coalescences of black-hole binaries and neutron star binaries, the network of interferometric gravitational wave detectors demonstrated to be a new tool for astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The challenging achievement to detect strain changes at the $10^{23}$ level requires a combination of state-of-the-art technologies for sensitive optical sensing and for isolation from environmental disturbances. My presentation will summarise the apparatus of Advanced Virgo to describe the interferometric detection of gravitational waves. I will provide an overview of the interferometer configuration, a summary of the sensitivity limits, and near-term as well as long-term prospects.