Meet your expert guide bright and early outside the Vatican Museums for a semi-private tour of the Vatican collection with a delicious Papal Breakfast. Your early entry means no waiting in any lines, and you’ll enjoy the calm and quiet of the courtyard before most other visitors arrive.
Your breakfast is a true feast! A magnificent selection of eggs, pancakes, pastries, juices, coffee – the works. Your guide will tell you about the special treats, made exclusively for the Vatican – and the origin of the milk (yes – direct from the papal herd of cows, or as we like to call them, the holy cows). After an hour for breakfast, your guide will take you and your small group of six people, through the Vatican Museums – stopping to admire the amazing, priceless collection of ancient statuary created over two thousand years ago.
You’ll see the Belvedere Courtyard with the famous Apollo and Laocoon statues, the vast porphyry bathtub that purportedly belonged to Emperor Nero, the frescoed ceilings, and well-preserved statues of the deities Diana of Ephesus and the young Bacchus in the Gallery of the Candelabra. You’ll be able to see the exquisite details on the Raphael tapestries and be wowed by the opulent gallery of maps.
Learn about the life and talent of Raphael in the rooms he painted for the Warrior Pope Julius II, and then walk down through the Borgia apartments to the piece de resistance – the Sistine Chapel. Here you’ll be able to wonder at the dazzling frescoes on the Ceiling and Last Judgement by the one and only Michelangelo.
Lastly, enjoy the exclusive exit from the Chapel, reserved for guided tours that leads straight to the magnificent St Peter’s Basilica – the largest church in the world, built atop the grave of St Peter, the first pope, and filled with awe-inspiring treasures from Bernini’s Baldachino to the mosaics on the dome – designed by Michelangelo. End inside to continue exploring at your own leisure, or let your guide show you out.
