Best of the Vatican: Fast Track Highlights

At the Vatican Museum’s entrance, you’ll meet a well-informed guide who will make your line-skipping access possible to what is thought to be one of the most important collections of art in the world.

This specialist knows every inch of the museums and can skillfully lead you through a complex system of more than 1,200 galleries that has come to be used.

Immediately op­ening it, Raphael Rooms, Ancient Roman and Greek artifacts at Belvedere Courtyard along with Gallery of Maps were seen but still keeping the main aim—to reach Sistine Chapel—in mind.

As you stroll through the former papal apartments, your guide will point out important works of art from Ancient Greece and Rome and explain how they inspired the artistic genius that was laterborn in the Renaissance, specifically in Italy.

Much of this tour is devoted to the magnificent Sistine Chapel and its story of commissioning culminating with contributions by none other than Michelangelo Buonarroti himself.

You will hear about this artist's tumultuous yet fascinating life; although he considered himself more a sculptor than a painter, he spent many years creating frescoes on a ceiling that soars to 44 feet! Your guide will help separate myth from fact and the overblown tales usually served up in Hollywood about this monumental work, revealing also the physical and mental costs it exacted on its creator.

After plenty of time spent admiring the world’s most famous ceiling, you can either use priority access to St.

Peter’s Basilica or stay in the museums to see the other 1,400 galleries of art at your own pace.