Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Tour with Dome Climb

Meet your expert Vatican guide at St.

Peter’s Square and leave Rome behind as you cross into Vatican City and St.

Peter’s Basilica when it is still closed to the general public.

As you enter, get set for some of the most fantastic views of Rome, since a lift takes you up to the basilica’s terrace level (or take the better option of walking up for a shot at gelato later)! “Small” mosaics that from below seemed tiny will, just before entering this monument, present themselves to be of huge dimensions and of a golden color.

You can spend your time sitting at this level and enjoying the view or take 320 more steps to reach the top where the view of not only Rome but till far distance is just amazing.

So it’s true what goes up must come down and you’ll descend with us in the lower level of the basilica to explore the “Vatacombs” where former popes rest in embellished caskets next to effigies by all the greatest artists throughout the ages.

The next leg of this journey is going to be an exhaustive exploration of St.

Peter’s Basilica; technically, it’s the largest church in the whole world, a testament to some of the finest works of art produced by greats like Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bernini among many others from the Renaissance.

Then we ‘break bread’ or have a little something to eat and reassemble for a ‘skip-the-line’ access to Vatican Museums, deemed as the best collection of art in the world.

Your guide will take you through the enormous set of more than 1,200 galleries, focusing on the Rooms of Raphael, the Roman and Greek artifacts in the Belvedere Courtyard, and the Gallery of Maps, but all the time keeping you concentrating on the big one-the Sistine Chapel.

Much of this tour will concentrate on that specific room, going over the commissioning and the last-minute touches put on it by that great ‘gentleman’, Michelangelo Buonarroti, helping you to separate between myth, reality and popular cinematic things that go around this great masterpiece.