Day 1 : Rome: Vatican Museum & Castel Sant' Angelo with Typical Lunch Guided Tour
Join the first part of the guided group tour which starts a few meters away from the entrance to the Vatican, you’ll meet the guide and from here on you’ll skip the line to the Vatican Museum, the first stop in the adventure of exploring the most famous historical site in this combo tour.
You will receive a broad base of understanding of this remarkable history, architecture, and politics of the Vatican City.
The guide will lead you through some of the lesser-known spots that tourist often tends to miss. You will discover masterpieces of painting, sculptures and other works of art collected by the popes through the centuries.
A world of discovery awaits you, at the Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Room and Gallery of Tapestries. Sistine Chapel is the highlight of this tour and once inside the Sistine Chapel you’ll be amazed by the work of Michelangelo’s fresco, the expert guide on history will teach you about the pieces and the stories behind them. Inside the walls of the Chapel, you’ll see the glory of Michelangelo’s acclaimed masterpiece of "The Last Judgment", it’s a marvel and its why Sistine Chapel is known as the crown jewel of the Vatican, and perhaps even of all the worlds art treasures.
Once you’ve had your fill on Sistine Chapel, walk through the corridors to the Skip-the-line access of the St. Peter’s Basilica, known as the world’s largest basilica. In this monument you can admire the stunning masterpiece of Michelangelo’s Pieta ‘and Bernini’, the church’s incredible altar and impressive dome with not only Michelangelo’s design but also the pilasters of Maderno's nave, exquisite architectural features by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and much more.
This three and a half hour guided tour to the holiest site in the Christendom includes an enjoyable walking tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica as you’ll enjoy a hassle-free visit to the Vatican. Before continuing the tour of Vatican City, you’ll be escorted to a local restaurant to enjoy a traditional lunch.
After enjoying a delicious lunch, your guide will escort you to the Castle Sant Angelo, a few minutes’ walks from the Vatican City. You’ll walk through Ponte Sant’ Angelo known as the “Aelian Bridge” or “Pons Aelius, the guide will fill you in the details of this special bridge built by Emperor Hadrian. As you enter the castle, which is located on the right bank of the Tiber river, as you skip-the-line to enter Hadrian’s cylindrical mausoleum the guide will talk about changes that took place throughout the centuries behind the fortified walls of the first castle built in Rome and how popes converted the structure and a fortified a corridor called the “Passetto di Borgo”.
Admire the sculptures of angels and feast your eyes with frescos, Papal apartments, and magnificent corridors of the castle as well as listen to the stories about the castle’s time as a prison. Later follow the steps of the former popes as you walk through the Passetto di Bargo, built to escape the death threat. The castle and the Vatican State had a very dark connection, listen to this story as the guide will reveal it to you, as you walk through the corridor. This corridor will lead you back straight to the St. Peters Square. But before the tour ends at St Peters square, you’ll learn a lot of information and understanding about the architects behind its astonishing construction, including Michelangelo, Bernini, and Borromini of this Square. We guarantee you that you’ll never regret this incredible tour of visiting the most famous ancient attractions of Rome.
