Private Vatican Tour
Private Vatican Tour
- 3 Hours
- Easy Meeting Point
- Expert Guide
- Skip Lines
- Tickets Included
- Wheelchair Access
Tour Overview
This Private Vatican Tour matches you with a Private Presto Guide who brings you through the maze of the Vatican City as you enter into to the Vatican Museums’ world renowned art collection, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Tour Details
- Tour Duration − 3 Hours
- Tour Price − view calendar
- Days Available − view calendar
- Meeting Point − across from the Vatican Museums or your hotel lobby
Tour Stops
- Sistine Chapel
- Vatican Museums
- St. Peter’s Basilica
- Raphael Rooms
- Gallery of the Maps
- Pinecone Courtyard
Tour Features
- All Tickets Included in Price
- Skip the Line at the Vatican Museums
- Skip the Line into St. Peter’s Basilica
- Private Presto Guide
- Outstanding Educator
- Photo Hot Spots
- Comfortable Pace
- Media Enhanced Tour
- Easy Meeting Point
- Punctual
- Restroom Break
Private Vatican Tour
At present, the Vatican City boasts a stellar roster of artwork. The core artistry we will visit on this Private Vatican Tour will be by Michelangelo, Raphael and Bernini. Along the way, brace yourselves for the stories which you will hear: the historic legends, myths, scandals, and secrets of the smallest country in the world, the Vatican City.
The Catholic Church has been collecting some of the most treasured art for centuries. The Vatican Museums were founded 500 years ago with a discovery of a sculpture in a vineyard near Rome. Within a week of finding the sculpture, it officially became the first art piece of the Vatican Museums. Now it has expanded into 54 galleries filled with paintings, sculptures, and artifacts.
Inside the Vatican Museums, you’ll be surrounded by both ancient masterpieces such as the Belvedere Apollo, a Roman second century copy from a Greek bronze original possibly by Leochares (330-320 B.C.), and Renaissance masterpieces such as the Mass of Bolsena by Raphael. Before silently revelling your senses inside the Sistine Chapel (there is no talking allowed inside this holy site), your Presto guide will recap the Biblical Story of Creation, the Downfall of Humanity, and the Story of Noah, which Michelangelo depicted in his world-renowned frescos. Whilst exploring the making of the Sistine Chapel, we will take a peek into the politics of the Vatican City’s art commissions and get to know the artists’ with the help of your guide’s favorite anecodotes.
Finally we will visit St. Peter’s Basilica, named after St. Peter, the first Pope and the modern day patron saint of Rome. Architect Donato Bramante designed the Basilica with a precise symbolism which according to Arnaldo Bruschi can be “schematised – in accord with an ancient, mostly Byzantine tradition – as a cube (the world) with four extending arms (the four parts of the world), and a dome above it (heaven).” Inside the Basilica we will find another of Michelangelo’s masterpieces, his sculpture, the Pieta’, and more.
If you prefer, we also have an option for Early Birds which is our Private Vatican Tour and Breakfast.