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The Vatican:
The Vatican is a sovereign country, covers an area of about 108
acres and is completely surrounded by Rome. It includes St. Peter's
Basilica (the largest church on earth, covers more than six acres),
St. Peter’s Square, Vatican Grottoes (tombs of the Popes), Dome and
Treasury. The Vatican Museums include: Egyptian Museum, Chiaramonti
Museum, Lapidary Gallery, Museums of Popes Clement XIV and Pius VI (Museo
Pio-Clementino), Gregorian Museum of Etruscan Art, Gallery of the
Tapestries, Gallery of the Maps, Raphael's Rooms and Loggias, Borgia
Apartment, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Picture Gallery (Pinacoteca),
Museo Gregoriano Profano, Museo Pio Cristiano, Missionary Museum,
Christian Museum, Missionary Museum of Ethnology, Postal Museum of
Stamps and Coins. |
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Most visitors go to the Vatican unprepared, ignoring that the Sistine Chapel cannot be
visited separately from the Vatican Museums. The Sistine is part of
the Vatican Museums and you finally arrive to it after walking through
Cortile della Pigna, Belvedere, Pio Clementino Museum, the Gallery
of Candelabra, the Gallery of Tapestries, the Gallery of Maps,
Raphael's Rooms (just to mention the highlights).
Just the walk from the entrance to the Sistine, stopping briefly to
look at some of the items exhibited, would take half an hour to the
average visitor who's target is the Sistine. So, half an hour to get
to the Sistine plus another half an hour to get back to the entrance
and 20 minutes spent in the Chapel easily make 1.5 hours. |
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Now, that's the average time a tourists who goes in alone spends in
the place, but if he has someone to guide him then he will ask
question, which would require answers, and 2 hours go in the bat of
an eyelid. I have a funny anecdote which helps to understand how big
the place is. Years ago instead of translating from Italian
"Cappella Sstina" in English to "Sistine Chapel" it was translated
from Latin to "Sixtine Chapel" which was causing misunderstandings.
In fact it was happening all the time that a tourist who walked in
the Vatican Museums, overwhelmed by the size of the place and the
enormous amount of art works it contains, ask his guide to "skip all
the other chapels and go directly to the sixteenth".
The news about the restoration of Michelangelo’s frescoes, which was
completed in 1993, made the Sistine become even more famous than it already
was and today throngs of people line up to get inside the Vatican
Museums and see it. The lines became even longer after 9/11, for now
you have walk though metal detectors before you're allowed in. Once
in, you climb the steps to the upper floor where you buy your
tickets and a short line is usually formed there too. |
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Guides buy tickets from a
special window so they don’t have to wait.
So if you go in with a guide it takes a minute to get the tickets.
They don’t sell tickets in advance and even if they did it wouldn’t
really change anything. The reason why
there is a always a line is that first of all you have walk
though metal detectors.
Plus, when it gets to be too crowded inside they stop the
line and don’t allow anybody in for a few minutes. They only take
reservations for schools and pilgrims (religious groups), but also
these people can only get their tickets after they entered the
Museums. |
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So, how do we do it?
The best is to go when it’s less crowded and, since we go there
again and again, we know when that is. Most people think: “We'll
go there early and beat the crowds!” But unfortunately they all
think that, so when the place opens, at 9.00 in the morning,
there’s already a half-mile long line outside the door (the line
starts as far as St. Peter’s Square sometimes). Usually the best
time to go is around 11.00 am, but sometimes it’s still crowded even
that late. Going at about 2.00 pm 8on summer) almost guarantees that there will
be no lines though. |
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On summer the Vatican Museums allow people in until 3.20 pm and
finally close at 4.45 pm., so
that the last person they allow in still has about one hour and thirty minutes time to visit
the place. That is in fact considered to be the minimum time
requirement to visit place. |
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Please do not expect the tour to take any
less than one hour and a half. |
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My
preference goes
to visiting the Vatican Museums first and to go directly from the Sistine to St.
Peter’s. This is the quickest way to do it. You go in from one end
and exit from the other after seeing all you really wanted to see.
But that’s not always possible, for example on Wednesdays the Pope
uses the church for His public audience and therefore the church
itself and the exit onto it from the Sistine, remain closed at least
until 2.00 pm. There are days when the place is
crowded until after 12.00 noon, and in that case we go to visit St. Peter’s
Basilica first and then go to the Vatican Museums. In the worst
cases I use my “connections”. I have a way of getting in there
without standing in line. It costs 25/30 extra Euros, but it’s worth
the money! |
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I can also arrange private tours of the Sistine for my clients, let
them visit it when it’s closed to the public. They can enter and
visit it before it opens, or after it closes, to the public.
It
is an expensive but yet unforgettable experience! It’s also possible
to visit it on Sundays when it's closed for the day, but in that
case it becomes super expensive! |
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Concluding, this is how I do my Vatican tours: |
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The usual tour, half-day.
I meet
the clients at their hotel and drive them to the Vatican. We park
the car near St. Peter’s (Vatican parking garage), and walk to the Vatican Museums
(just a short taxi ride for those with walking problems). The entrance is half a mile from
where we park the car. We tour the Vatican Museums, the Sistine and finally
arrive from the Chapel to St. Peter’s. After touring St. Peter’s, we walk
(short) back to the car.
This is the quickest and easiest tour. By going from the Chapel to
St. Peter’s you also avoid a second metal detector check, which
those who go to he church from the square have to withstand.
You’ll be coming into the Basilica from the Vatican Museums where they
will have checked you already.
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The full-day tour.
Once
you’ll be there, you’ll realize that though most visitors think they
can everything in a half-hour, the Vatican would
take much longer than one day to see. The tour of the Vatican would really
need a full day to be dedicated to it. In case you think you’d like
to take your time and do it this way, I suggest visiting St. Peter's
church in the morning and then go to a nice restaurant in the area
for a good lunch and some rest, and after that go to the Vatican
Museums and Sistine Chapel in the afternoon.
The special, private tour.
We meet at your hotel at 7:30 am and get to the Vatican Museums at
about 8,00, one hour before they open to the public. We visit the
place escorted by a member of the Vatican staff and then visit St.
Peter’s. This tour costs normally 600 Euros minimum for a group of 4
people.
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The super special tour.
We visit the Sistine Chapel when it’s closed to the public for the
day. Times, formalities and costs vary from case to case. |
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