Vatican City

Saint Peter’s Basilica

The most visible part of Vatican City, St. Peter’s Basilica is the showpiece of the Vatican to the public. A masterwork of architecture and scale, the front of it opens onto a massive square in which gatherings take place on occasion. St. Peter’s Square is large and impressive in its own right, and anyone may enter it, at almost any time. Looking at the Basilica from the front, you take in the massive size of the church, and the dome, which is visible from many places in Rome due to its size. It is one of the largest domes in the world, and the Basilica and dome were designed in part by Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, and several others. Due to civil strife, the city of Rome being captured in war, the deaths of popes and the deaths of the designers, the actual design and construction changed hands numerous times.

Entry to the dome requires a ticket, though entrance to the church is free. The dome offers a great view of the Vatican and of Rome. There is an elevator or there are steps to ascend the heights.

As you walk inside the front entrance, you will immediately be struck with the scale of one of the largest churches in the world. You could plausibly spend all day inside studying the significant and masterful details of the floors, walls, and ceiling, not to mention the statues, tombs, and artwork spread around. If you are Catholic or interested in Italian or church history, you could well spend multiple days experiencing everything inside.

The most notable parts of a tour of the church include Michelangelo’s Pietà, just inside the entrance and to the right. While there are many pietàs, and in general pietà always refers to Mary holding Jesus in her arms in some fashion, this one is considered to be one of Michelangelo’s best surviving works, and is therefore world famous. He completed the work in two years, at the age of 23.

The burial place of Saint Peter is purported to be under the church, giving it its name. Tickets are required to descend the stairs to the tomb, which is marked by a chapel and altar.

There are quite a few tombs and graves within the boundaries of the Vatican, but inside St. Peter’s is another, more recent figure in the Catholic church, John Paul II. Given this high honor upon his death, he was proclaimed a saint in 2014

The number of people who visit the Basilica is necessarily larger than those who pay to visit the Museums, as entrance to the courtyard of the church and the church itself is free of charge, and while the traffic is obviously monitored for security reasons it is not counted. In the prime daylight hours expect large crowds and long lines to get into the Basilica. To avoid the lines, arrive at, or even before, opening hours and check the schedule online to see if there is an event or address scheduled for when you plan to visit.

No matter where you stay in Rome, it is easy to reach the Vatican by the Metro. There are five Metro stops just outside the walls of the Vatican, three on the orange line and two on the green line.

It is also important when visiting to remember that St. Peter’s, and Vatican City as a whole, is a religious site. Your dress and conduct should reflect the nature of the place, though there is certainly a diverse cast of visitors at most times, so this should not be difficult. Hats are not permitted inside the Basilica itself, and you may be asked to remove them.

The Vatican Gardens are arguably as close as the average person gets to the daily workings of this small country. Gardens they are, and obviously small, but filled with art, architecture, buildings from medieval times, orchards, trees, and well manicured and pleasant parks. The Vatican Radio building is also within the Gardens, which take up most of the Vatican Hill.

There are two ways to see the Gardens, and neither are alone. There is a guided, walking, group tour or there is an open bus tour with an audio guide. Both require a paid ticket, and booking a spot ahead of time.

The Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums are massive repositories of Italian, church, and world history that are open to visitors in exchange for the price of a ticket, and the scheduling of an entry time. Entry is carefully observed and queuing is required at the proper time. Showing up early for your entry time will see you removed from the line, so arrive at the proper time and not earlier.

These museums were founded in the 1500s by Pope Julius II, and contain an estimated 70,000 pieces, though less than a third of these are ever on display to the general public. There are almost as many people employed by the museums as there are citizens of the Vatican.

The Bramante Staircase is one of those interesting highlights that not everyone know about without doing some research first. There are actually two of these staircases, the first dating back to 1505 and designed by Donato Bramante, hence the name. The original purpose was to allow the pope to ascend to his apartments while still in his carriage, so he could skip the steps in his ornate, but cumbersome, papal raiment. The original is not accessible to the general public and the steps that you can actually walk are at the entrance/exit of the Vatican Museums.

Designed as a double helix, the staircase is quite attractive. There are two staircases built together in this way, allowing those ascending and descending to avoid each other. There is a glass skylight above that lets in natural light and illuminates the stairway, creating a pleasant and symmetrical picture from the bottom.

Once inside there are several ways you can go. If you have purchased a ticket that includes the Sistine Chapel, you will see that a the end of of your visit, as that is traditionally the last room or hall on your tour. Before that you will be able to see many works by some of the recognized masters of their craft such as Raphael, van Gogh, and Michelangelo. Notable among the works are the frescoes on the Sistine Chapel, Pieta by Vincent van Gogh, and Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, by Leonardo da Vinci.

The Gallery of Maps is a favorite of ours. This nearly four hundred foot hallway features massive, hand painted maps of various sections of Italy in forty separate panels. The detail and scale are superb and it is fascinating to pore over the maps, wondering at the time each took to create.

The Raphael Rooms, or the Stanze, are four rooms commissioned by Pope Julius II around 1509 to serve as a, fantastically decorated, reception area. The work was begun by, you guessed it, Raphael, but was finished after the both the Renaissance master’s death and the death of Pope Julius II by the apprentices of Raphael’s studio, under the direction of Pope Leo X.

The Sistine Chapel is planned as the last stop on a tour of the Vatican Museums. The chapel is located in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican. The Chapel is famous as being the location of the papal conclave, the gathering of Cardinals in which a new pope is selected. It is perhaps more famous as being the site of Michelangelo’s frescoes on the walls and ceiling.

The legendary sculptor did not really think of himself as much of a painter, but accepted the commission from the pope to repaint parts of the chapel nonetheless. By the time he was done he had painted the ceiling in its entirety and a portion of one of the end walls, over the altar. The area of the ceiling was over 5,000 square feet, a gargantuan task in an age without power tools of any kind, working only by hand, and so high off of the ground. Incredibly, the work on the ceiling took around 4 years and was completed by 1512, while the painting over the altar took nearly a year longer., and was completed in 1541. The gap between these works was due to both a lull in the artistic desire of the papacy, and the War of the League of Cognac, which, among other things, resulted in the Sack of Rome in 1527. It is hard to paint with a halberd in your ribs, so the wait is understandable.

While the Vatican as a country is quite small, the effort and scale of its representation is equally large. The Basilica, the Vatican Museums, and not to buck the trend, the gift shop at the end is the largest we have ever seen. Housed in one of the large, grandiose hallways at the end of the museum tour, the gift shop has everything from Swarovski crystal to humble, wooden rosaries. Postcards are usually what we are after, and the shop does not disappoint. There is even a postal desk at the entrance/exit of the Museums so you can stamp and send your letters or postcards directly from the Vatican.

The Pontifical Swiss Guard, or Papal Swiss Guard is maintained by the Holy See, and is charged with protecting the Pope and the Apostolic Palace. In modern times they serve mostly ceremonial and guard duties in their notable and unique livery. There are several uniforms, which, as in most armies, serve varying functions and are meant for different occasions. The tricolor uniform of orange, blue, and red are the most recognizable.

There is a myth that Michelangelo designed the original uniforms of the Swiss Guard, but that is just a story.

The name “Swiss Guard” comes from the origin of this military unit. A Swiss bishop suggested the creation of just such a group to the pope, and he acted on that suggestion. The Swiss at the time had a reputation for creating military men and units of high quality, and tradition has kept the name alive. In fact, in order to be chosen to join, it is a requirement to hold Swiss citizenship and have completed basic training with the Swiss military.

Additional requirements are being a practicing Roman Catholic, being a male between the ages of 19 and 30, and being at least 5’8.5” tall, among other things. That list makes quite a Tinder profile.

The Vatican Observatory, though not in Vatican City, is worth mentioning and is not mentioned in many travel guides, most likely because visiting is rather difficult. That little spat with Galileo notwithstanding, the Catholic Church has had a long history with astronomy, and has had an official observatory on and off again since 1774. The current location is in Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome but close enough to visit and return in the same day.

Unfortunately visits by small groups are not currently possible, and even larger groups must be schedule on a case by case basis and be organized well ahead of time.