Vatican Museums & the Sistine Chapel with private guide

Book a guided tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel with a private, expert guide. The tour includes a skip-the-line ticket reservation!

PRIVATE GUIDED TOUR OF VATICAN MUSEUMS AND THE SISTINE CHAPEL

This fascinating guided tour spotlights the extraordinary art treasures kept within the Vatican Museums, including the jewel in the crown of this boundless art collection: the Sistine Chapel.

DURATION: approx. 3 hours
AVAILABILITY: Every day except Sunday when the museums are closed.
DESCRIPTION: an expert guide will take you to the Vatican Museums' key sections and the Sistine Chapel. Note: For groups of more than 10 visitors, headsets are provided to help hear your guide. The tour can be customized to meet specific visitor requests.

TOUR ITINERARY
First stop is the Cortile della Pigna, the "Pinecone Courtyard," named after the huge Roman bronze pine cone, originally a decoration on the Roman fountain of Agrippa.
The next stop on the tour is the Belvedere Courtyard, the start of the Greek–Roman section of the Vatican Museums, and home to some of the most famous statues of the Ancient Age, including the Laocoön group (depicting the tragic end of the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons killed by a sea snake that sprang out of the water during the Trojan War) and the Belvedere Apollo, inspired by the Greek god of the Sun and considered one of the masterpieces of ancient statue art.
Next on the tour is the Hall of the Museswhere we can see the Belvedere Torso, a fragment of an ancient statue of Apollonius that impressed Michelangelo for his perfect, powerful anatomical structure. Taking inspiration from it, Michelangelo used it as a model to paint some of his most-famed masterpieces including the Christ in the Last Judgment that you will have a chance to appreciate at the end of this tour inside the Sistine Chapel.
Next up is the Round Hallwhere you can appreciate the beauty of the Bust of Zeus, the golden statue of Hercules, the statue of Hadrian, and the massive porphyry basin originally in Nero's Domus Aurea.
We'll continue to the Greek Cross Hall,which holds two porphyry sarcophagi made for the burial of St. Constance and St. Helen, the daughter and the mother, respectively, of Emperor Constantine the Great.
Moving to the upper floor, we'll go through the Candelabra Gallery, named for its magnificent chandeliers, once in Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. Next: the Gallery of Tapestrieswhich Pope Clement VII commissioned in the 16th century to decorate the Sistine Chapel. Raphael's pupils made these tapestries with precious fabrics from Brussels. The gallery has a special climate control system to preserve these precious but fragile tapestries.
The Map Galleryis the third and final gallery. About 120 meters (400 feet) long, it displays topographic maps of the Italian peninsula, the first complete representation of the various areas of Italy. Visitors can admire the marvelous Vatican Gardens from the window.
The Sobieski Roomand the Room of the Immaculate Conception come before the entrance to Raphael's Rooms. The Sobieski Room is named for the enormous 19th-century painting found here.
Then we come at last to the Raphael Rooms. Raphael and his pupils decorated these four famous rooms, originally the Pope's residence, on the orders of Pope Julius II.
The Room of the Segnature was originally Pope Julius II's personal library and office and was the first that Raphael frescoed. This room holds Raphael's best-known works, including the "School of Athens."
Room of Heliodorus: here you can appreciate the beautiful "Deliverance of St. Peter" depicting the prince of the apostles and the pope being miraculously rescued from jail by an angel while the guards lie asleep.
The Fire in the Borg Roomhas frescoes illustrating the political aspirations and life stories of some of Pope Julius II's predecessors.
The Hall of Constantine: once used for official receptions and ceremonies, it was decorated by Raphael's pupils based on his drawings, because Raphael died prematurely before it was completed.
The tour ends inside the Sistine Chapel. The chapel was built in the 15th century and decorated with frescoes by the era's most eminent artists, such as Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, and, most famously, Michelangelo, who frescoed the ceiling and the entrance wall depicting the Last Judgment. Impressively, the ceiling covers 930 square meters (10,000 square feet), organized with over 300 figures bringing to life scenes of the Genesis, including the extremely famous "Creation of Adam." To its sides are extraordinary depictions of prophets and sibyls.