At just 0.17 square miles, Vatican City is the world’s smallest country. The independent state is home to the Pope and is where head of the Catholic Church exercises his universal power from. Vatican City has its own telephone network, post office, gardens, radio station, banking system and even an astronomical observatory. Much of the country’s income is derived from the donations of more than one billion Roman Catholics worldwide, in addition to tourism.
Today we will head together to The Vatican City and we will present you why you shouldn’t miss this wonderful experience.
We offer you two Vatican tours, available now on our website: THE VATICAN MUSEUMS, ST. PETER’S BASILICA AND SISTINE CHAPEL TOUR (if you are looking for a group guided tour) or PRIVATE VATICAN GUIDED TOUR (if you want a private and intimate experience).
The main attractions in our Vatican guided tours:
1.Vatican Museums:
The Vatican Museums have been included in the list of the most important museums in the world and visiting them is an essential stage for those who visit Rome. Inside the Vatican Museums we find the art collections that popes accumulated over time. The Vatican Museums house the exquisite art collections, archeology and ethnology created by the various Pontiffs over the centuries, but they also feature some of the most unique and historically and artistically significant places of the Apostolic Palaces. Visiting the Vatican Museums is a unique experience that must be experienced at least once in a lifetime. This visit is a long and interesting trip that will fill you with emotions through more than twenty centuries of history and art. The Sistine Chapel, the rooms of Raphael and the art gallery (Pinacoteca) are only part of a large number of priceless collections.
2.The Sistine Chapel:
The Sistine Chapel (the papal chapel in the Vatican Palace) is famous for its Renaissance frescoes by Michelangelo and was erected between 1473–1481 by the architect Giovanni dei Dolci for Pope Sixtus IV.
The chapel’s exterior is drab and unadorned, but its interior walls and ceiling are decorated with frescoes by many Florentine Renaissance masters.The most important artworks in the chapel are the frescoes by Michelangelo on the ceiling and on the west wall behind the altar. The frescoes on the ceiling, collectively known as the Sistine Ceiling, were commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 and were painted by Michelangelo between 1508-1512. They depict incidents and personages from the Old Testament. The Last Judgment fresco on the west wall was painted by Michelangelo for Pope Paul III in the period 1534-1541. These two gigantic frescoes are among the greatest achievements of Western painting. As the pope’s own chapel, the Sistine Chapel is the site of the principal papal ceremonies and is used by the Sacred College of Cardinals for their election of a new pope when there is a vacancy.
3.St.Peter’s Basilica:
The Saint Peter’s Basilica is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave that is within the city of Rome. St. Peter’s Basilica is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest church in the world by interior measure. It is designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The history of the St. Peter’s Basilica begins in the 4th century when the Emperor Constantine decides to build a basilica where the apostle had been buried. In 329 the construction of the basilica was completed. The present Basilica, built on the Constantinian Basilica, is the expression of the will of the Popes of the Renaissance who, relying on great artists such as Bramante, Michelangelo, Bernini and Maderno take us on a journey through art, faith and spirituality where we can not only admire the magnificence of the building, but also walk through its corridors, visit the chapels and enjoy the beauty of numerous works of art, such as Michelangelo’s Pity (La Pietá) and St. Peter’s Baldachin designed by Bernini.
Join us on an amazing guided tour at the Vatican City and explore with us the beauty of the Papal State.
Choose now your favourite tour and let’s spot together Pope’s balcony!