How to Tour the Vatican
Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Vatican Museums and subsequent crowding issues, it’s worth taking a minute to think about your interests and needs before choosing a Vatican tour. For example, keep in mind that these spaces were never designed to be a museum, and yet the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel one of the most-highly trafficked museums in the world!
The Vatican has implemented several improvements in the past few years to ease the crowding and the wear on the museum. They have extended their hours every day of the week, instituted a reservation system, and offered evening openings on Fridays from March to October. We’ve seen a significant improvement in the lines and the crowds. Despite all this great news, there are a number of things to keep in mind when planning your visit.
PLANNING YOUR VISIT
At Context we have a variety of ways to experience the Vatican through in-depth tours. Below you will find advice on which walking seminar is best for your group and our scheduling suggestions. Â You can also find answers to many commonly asked questions about the Vatican Frequently Asked Questions page.
SKIP THE LINE:
Arte Vaticana: A Vatican Tour, including the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica
If at all possible we recommend an afternoon start time for your visit or an early morning entry at 8 am.
Our 8 am entry time allows us to enter the museums during a special reserved time slot before the Vatican opens to the general public.  As part of the first selection of people to enter the collection, our docents  will help you get ahead of the crowds and enjoy the museums before the larger wave of visitors enter at 9 am.  Please note that advance reservation for this timeslot books up quickly, so advance booking is recommended.
Our 12:30pm and 1 pm start times begin with a reserved entrance at the time of day when the Vatican crowds start to wane. Most tour groups are finishing up at this point and we’ve found the crowds to be much reduced through the entire visit. We start in the Gallery of maps and then proceed on tot he other rooms, the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. Ending in the Basilica just as the sites are closing.
While our 9 am time slot is less preferential than the choices listed above, rest assured that should your walk begin at 9 am our expert docents will use their knowledge and know how in the museums to provide your group with the intimate experience that Context is known for.
We’ve asked some of our docents to put together a few recommendations and resources to help prepare you for the art, the history, and the crowds.
LATE AFTERNOON FOR LESSER CROWDS:
Pushing your walk to as late in the afternoon as possible means that fewer people are actually inside the Vatican when you enter, making the entire experience more pleasurable. Our Vatican Collections walk, which covers just the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, is scheduled as late as possible in the day – 2 pm – so that you see the Sistine Chapel right before it closes. Though the lines are often minimal, this walk still includes advance entry reservations so there is no worry about getting caught up in a wait.
EARLY MORNING AT ST. PETER’S:
While there are no advance reservation to be made when visiting St. Peter’s Basilica, an early morning start time, right when the doors open, allows you to enter comfortably without excessive waiting. Keep in mind that the Basilica will be closed to visits both on Wednesday morning during the Papal Audience and everyday from about 4:30 pm until after mass celebrations.
VATICAN RESOURCES
Vatican Frequently Asked Questions
St. Peter’s Basilica.org – A wonderful site with floor plans and more, including information about accessibility.
Prefecture of the Papal Household – Information on Papal celebrations and masses
Visiting the Vatican with Children
Docent Hilary Bockham writes about Tapestries at the Vatican Museums
Docent Gregory DiPippo writes about Christmas and Easter celebrations in Rome
GLOSSARY
baldacchino – an ornamental canopy on columns that rests over a tomb, altar, or throne.
cartoon – a preparatory drawing made to the scale of the final work.
chiaroscuro – the use of bold contrasts in light and dark to enhance volume.
fresco – a method of painting on plaster. In true (buon) fresco, pigment is painted directly on damp plaster. As the plaster dries the pigment becomes a part of the wall. In dry (secco) fresco, pigment is applied after the plaster has dried. This method is not as durable as true fresco.
ADDITIONAL READING
The Pope’s Elephant by Silvio A. Bedini
Penguin Books 2000
In the Footsteps of Popes: A Spirited Guide to the Treasures of the Vatican by Enrico Bruschini
William Morrow & Co. 2001
Michelangelo’s Last Judgement: The Renaissance Response by Bernardine Barnes
University of California Press 1998
Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari
Oxford World Classics 1998
The Renaissance in Rome by Charles L. Stinger
Indiana University Press 1998
High Renaissance Art in St. Peter’s and the Vatican: An Interpretive Guide by George L. Hersey
University of Chicago Press 1993
VATICAN TIMELINE
67 St. Peter martyred.
ca. 324 Emperor Constantine builds first basilica of St. Peter.
800 Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter’s by Pope Leo III.
1099 Pope Urban II launches the First Crusade.
1277-80 Nicholas III becomes first Pope to adopt Vatican as official residence.
1305-77 Popes take up residence in Avignon, France.
1378-1418 Papacy returns to Rome under Pope Gregory XI. After his death two popes are elected, creating a series of popes and antipopes. The schism ends in 1417 with the election of Pope Martin V.
1473 Pope Sixtus IV builds Sistine Chapel and then commissions Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rosselli, and Luca Signorelli to fresco its walls.
1499 Michelangelo’s Pieta is placed in St. Peter’s.
1506 Laocoön sculptural group uncovered near the Domus Aurea. Pope Julius II acquires it for his growing collection of antiquities.
1508-14 Raphael and Michelangelo work for Julius II in the Papal Apartments and Sistine Chapel, respectively.
1517 Martin Luther writes his 95 Theses, criticizing the church and sparking the Protestant Reformation.
1527 Pope Clement VII’s support of France prompts Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to sack Rome. Clement takes refuge in Castel Sant’Angelo.
1534-41 Michelangelo paints Last Judgement for Pope Paul III.
1545-1563 The Council of Trent discusses the Protestant Reformation and inaugurates the Counter Reformation, engine of the Baroque.
1582 Pope Gregory XIII reforms the calendar. The Gregorian calendar is now the most widely used calendar in the world.
1590 St. Peter’s dome completed based on Michelangelo’s design.
1612 Carlo Maderno completes the facade of St. Peter’s.
1629 Bernini appointed architect of St. Peter’s under Pope Urban VIII, designs baldacchino and St. Peter’s Square.
1798-99 Pope Pius VI held prisoner by Napoleonic forces after refusing to give up his temporal power to Napoleon I. He dies under house arrest.
1870 Vatican incorporated into Italy, effectively ending the temporal powers of Pope Pius IX. He declares himself a prisoner in the Vatican.
1929 Lateran Pact establishes the Vatican City as a sovereign state.
1972 Michelangelo’s Pieta attacked and damaged. It is then placed behind glass.
1990 Restored Sistine Chapel ceiling is unveiled.
VATICAN AND SISTINE CHAPEL IMAGES
The prepare you for your visit to the Vatican Museums, we have provided a visual reminder of the beauty that awaits in the halls of the museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.
