Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

The Vatican

Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

This is the visit of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums and Saint Peter’s Basilica.

In 1535 an old painter filled a wall with bodies sucked in by the vortex that all judges right into Pope’s private chapel. The Counter-Reformation was ruthless, even if the offending image were painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti. His work was later to be touched up by his pupil Daniele da Volterra to save it from sure destruction.

The restoration completed in 2002, revealed part of the original splendour. Today, we remain enthralled by the radiance of Michelangelo’s colours. The Sistine Chapel is, however, only the last masterpiece we admire there. The tour in fact takes us along a route to discover the immensity of the Vatican palaces and collections. This is why, with their 35,000 visitors per day, the Vatican museums are the most visited in Italy.

Visit of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums, however, are famous not only for the Sistine Chapel. There is an extremely fine collection of celebrated paintings or statues belonging the personal collections of various Popes. This paintings are today part of the splendid Vatican Painting Gallery. There, you can admire the only definite work by Giotto in Rome, as well as the only work made by Leonardo in Rome. And then also Caravaggio, Raphael and Perugino.

The collection of antique statues that inspired artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Mengs or Canova, forms today the marvellous Pius-Clementine Museum. Its Octagonal Courtyard is the location of the famous Laocoon group, a 1st-century copy of the Greek original – as was the famous Apollo of the Belvedere.

To round off the tour, there are the celebrated Raphael’s Rooms, the private apartment of Pope Julius II. With his enterprising brilliance, Raphael managed to beat other contemporary artists and won the prestigious commission.

Visit of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums: detailed program

The Vatican Museums consist of 25 galleries, collections and rooms for a total of over 14 km (9 miles) on 4 different floors. Understandably, it’s therefore impossible to see everything in just one visit.

A visit normally lasts 3 hours and, a part the Sistine Chapel, it includes: the Pine Cone Courtyard, the Candelabra, Tapestry and Maps Galleries, compulsory to join the Sistine Chapel. After the Sistine Chapel, we are allow to take a short-cut to join, in 5 minutes, St. Peter’s Basilica skipping the security line upon the square. We’ll finish the tour with the visit of St. Peter’s Basilica and Bernini Square… “which embraces all the faithful”.

If you want to visit one more collections to the standard ones, choosing among the Painting Gallery, the Raphael Rooms or the Pius-Clementine Museum, you have to plan 1 more hour for the visit.

Visit of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums: practical info

The main entrance to the Vatican Museum is along the Vatican wall and it is a frighteningly long queue. To skip that line, you have to purchase your own entrance tickets on line. The tickets have a price of 21€. To book them, you find all the instructions and the official website link in the dedicated page.

The visit of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica lasts 3 hours. It is a walking tour all made indoor, but remember to wear comfortable shoes as well. In fact, we are going to walk for 1 km/ 1/2 ml, but stand for the most of time. 1 short stops to rest and 1 toilet break only are possible during this visit. This is the holiest place in the world, so pay attention to your dress code the day of the visit. You wont to get in if your cloth are deemed inconvenient. Take a hat and a bottle of water with you in summertime, even if we’ll be indoor. We may refill them at the public fountains at our disposal.

If you want to visit St. Peter’s Basilica only, please go to the dedicated page.

3 hours Tour

9h00 – 12h00

Tickets required

Ask your Guide to confirm availability before buying tickets.
Book your tickets online.

Price and availability

Super Green Pass

You must have your knees, your shoulders, back and belly covered.

Itinerary available for wheelchair users.

Itineraire en voiture

GPS Meeting Point
Musei Vaticani, Roma, RM

Your Reviews

01/01/2021

After many visits to Rome to visit family, on this trip we finally managed to tour the city and the Vatican. We are now so happy that we did. The first 4 hours passed quickly, and she was careful to let us have some interesting stops with the car. Her knowledge and ability to describe are remarkable. She put into perspective what we were seeing all added to the experience. We particularly appreciated the references to Classical Greece among what was on display.

After that, we visited the Vatican and we were fortunate that this was a day when we could leave the tour via St Peter’s Basilica. So the guide took in some final treasures before finishing in the square. Most beautiful of all was Michelangelo’s Pieta. In conclusion, a great experience which will stay in our minds for a long time to come.

Edgard Cox

The Vatican