Hotel Pickup Fast Access Private Vatican Sistine Chapel & St Peter Basilica Tour

Meet the guide at your hotel and ready to start this unforgettable experience. As this is a private tour you can enter some of the rooms not on the larger group itineraries and also go at your own pace, taking time to peruse those things that interest you the most. Begin in the Belvedere Courtyard and proceed to the Pio-Clementino Museum with its marvelous collection of ancient Roman and Greek Statues.
Then it is on to the Galleries of Tapestries and Geographic Maps; the latter houses the greatest and most noteworthy display of Renaissance Maps anywhere in the world.
The Sobiesky Room is where the Vatican’s largest canvas painting is displayed. Your guide will tell you about this artwork as well as the wonderful frescoes in the Immaculate Conception Rooms. The tour continues into Raphael’s Rooms, painted for Pope Julius II and where you can see the Parnassus and the School of Athens, considered to be amongst his greatest masterpieces.
 Prior to entering the Sistine Chapel (talking inside is strictly forbidden) your guide will tell you about the frescoes by Michelangelo, Botticelli and other famous artists as well a recounting some of the history and interesting facts and anecdotes about the chapel – known throughout the world as the place where the conclave is held to select a new Pope.
The tour ends with a visit to Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square. In the Basilica you will see Michelangelo’s Pieta and Bernini’s Baldacchino as well as magnificent monuments to various Popes and Saints. In the square you can look upon the Pope’s Palace and see the Vatican’s Swiss Guard.