Meet your driver on the pier for the approximately one hour drive to the Vatican City. Upon arrival in Rome, you will meet your professionally trained, licensed guide and begin your visit of Vatican City, the smallest state in the world.
Within Vatican City is the Vatican Museum. The museum is made up of over one thousand rooms and galleries containing a multitude of amazing treasures collected by Popes throughout the centuries. It would take days to even scratch the surface. With your private guide and priority entrance you will avoid the long lines outside and be able to spend more time in the museum itself. You will have time to see some of the most important galleries and outstanding museum pieces but please be aware that you will only see a portion of the museum, and that crowds are to be expected.
At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel which can only be reached by a staircase. Built between the years 1473 and 1481, it is the best-known chapel in the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Part of its fame rests on its architecture with internal measurements of 134 feet long by 44 feet wide, the dimensions of Solomon's Temple as given in the Old Testament. Adding to its fame is its decoration, with frescoes throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael, and Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet of the chapel ceiling, 68 feet above the floor, between the years 1508 and 1512. Although he resented the commission, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgment, are widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievements in painting.
From the chapel, a staircase leads you past the long lines waiting to enter the Basilica from St. Mark's Square to your last visit in the Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica. The Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites in the world. It is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Catholic tradition holds that Saint Peter's tomb is below the altar of the basilica. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century.
Based on the design of Donato Brumante, the current building's foundation stone was laid on April 18, 1506. Five other designers and two additional Popes would be involved before Michelangelo, then in his seventies, was forced to become the designer in 1547. He is the man considered the principle designer of a majority of the present day building's interior as well as the man who finally got the construction moving forward. After he died, it would take 60 more years and several more designers to see it finished. Among the many fine pieces of art and mosaics on display are Michelangelo's "Pieta" and the beautifully carved Bernini Pulpit.
After your visit to the Vatican City, your private guide will bid you farewell and you will have approximately 2 hours at leisure with your private driver for additional touring, shopping or dining. At the appointed time you will make the the return drive to the port.
