Skip-the-line Vatican Tour with Sistine Chapel Raphael Rooms and St Peter Basilica

Skip-the-line Vatican Tour with Sistine Chapel Raphael Rooms and St Peter Basilica

The Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica; see all there is to see on this comprehensive half-day tour of the Vatican.  You have privileged entry with skip-the-line tickets and the services of a local guide to visit the Vatican highlights including the Raphael Rooms , the Galleries of Tapestries and Maps and the ancient Greek and Roman Statues in the Pio-Clementino Museums.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Vatican Museums, Viale Vaticano, 00120 Vatican City Italy

You meet with your guide at the entrance to the museums and bypassing the long queues of tourists you can deposit your belongings and take a comfort break in the Vatican cloakrooms.  It is then straight to the first port of call on this marvelous tour. You visit the rooms where ancient Roman and Greek statues are displayed.  When the Popes ruled all of Central Italy artworks collected from the excavations in the city of Rom were all bought to the Vatican.  Your guide has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything in the museums and will tell you about the masterpieces; the Belvedere Apollo, the Torso, the busts of Claudius and Hadrian and the sarcophagi of Helen and Constance, mother and daughter of he Emperor. Constantine.  You visit the Room of Animals and the Gallery of Candelabra, stepping over ancient mosaics and coming face to face with the statues of Diana of Ephesus, the Muses and many famous Greek philosophers. Then it is then on the  Gallery of Tapestries and the Gallery of Maps before you enter the Sobiesky Room with its vast canvas, the largest in the Vatican.  You will then see Michelangelo’s famous Parnassus and School of Athens in the rooms the artist painted for Pope Julius II. 



Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Stop At: Sistine Chapel, Viale Vaticano, 00165 Vatican City Italy

Of all the Vatican’s famous treasurers none can compare with the Sistine Chapel, the most visited site in Italy.  Learn about Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, the Creation of Adam and the Genesis as well as the frescoes painted by Botticelli, Perugino and other Renaissance Master, including the Stories of Moses and Jesus.   You guide has fascinating anecdotes and secrets to tell you about these magnificent artworks.  The chapel is not just an artistic delight; it is still in use today, hosting the conclave to elect a new Pope. 


Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: St. Peter's Basilica, Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Vatican City Italy

Again with privileged entry you follow your guide into Saint Peter’s Basilica, the most important of all Catholic churches.  Here you will be told about the architecture of this magnificent edifice and hear of the church’s rituals and symbols , see the tombs of past Popes, including those of Pope John XXIII and John Paul II and feast your eyes on another of Michelangelo’s masterpieces La Pietà. 



Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: St. Peter's Square, Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Vatican City Italy

Outside in Saint Peter’s Square you will learn some interesting and curious facts about Bernini’s statues that surround this huge square and see the balcony where the white smoke is released to tell of a new Pope. This Vatican tour is a must!!

Duration: 30 minutes