The meeting point is our office at Via Santamaura 14-B, conveniently located very close to the Museum's entrance.
The Vatican Museums feature many works of art that belonged to the different Popes and are full of artistic beauty. Here is a glimpse of some of the most beautiful things to see in the Vatican Museums. Rooms and Galleries of the Vatican Museums, as the Greek Cross Room, the Gallery of Maps, the Gallery of Tapestries, Raphael Rooms, and much more! These collections have been piled up over the course of centuries through acquisitions, donations, commissions, confiscations, and quite often lucky discoveries from underground Rome and not only!
The Gallery of Maps is a stupendous hallway where geography and history are perfectly intertwined. Created at the end of the 16th century, the entire room is dedicated to customized maps, which display the whole of Italy. On one side of the 393-foot long gallery are two representations of the country: one from the Imperial Roman Era and the other from the 1500s. Each map shows political happenings, religious roles, and major battles. The ceiling is no less remarkable, with frescoed scenes displaying episodes and miraculous events of apostles, saints, and martyrs, which are linked to the geographical maps below.
Admire the breathtaking Sistine Chapel of Michelangelo! The most famous section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling is Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. This scene is located next to the Creation of Eve, which is the panel at the center of the room, and the Congregation of the Waters, which is closer to the altar.
If you thought the size of the Vatican Museums was overwhelmingly spectacular, St. Peter’s Basilica takes the “wow factor” to another level. The sheer capacity of the interiors is enough to leave any visitor searching for words to describe its vastness. At 613 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 147 feet high, it took an incredible 120 years to build, starting from 1506. Admire Michelangelo’s unparalleled Pietà masterpiece and stroll towards the center-right nave to observe Bernini’s bronze Baldachin, which sits directly atop the site of St. Peter’s tomb.
St. Peter’s Square in is one of the most famous (and certainly one of the most holy!) sights in the world. It was designed in the 17th century by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was known as the most accomplished architect in Rome at the time. Pope Alexander VIII, who commissioned the piazza, asked Bernini to emphasize St. Peter’s importance as “the gateway to Heaven” and the architect implemented the request beautifully. He divided the square into a smaller trapezoidal area adjoining the Basilica and an oval main part, which together create a ground plan in the shape of a giant keyhole.
Our tour guide Emma was wonderful! She explained so much of the history of the church & popes. We were overwhelmed by the magnificence of the Sistine Chapel & St Peter’s Basilica.
The skip the line was a great choice as we passed so many people lined up. Mario our guide was brilliant- interesting, informative and funny. Also very patient! We loved all the areas we saw. Thanks Mario.
This tour was good. Our guide was very knowledgeable. Learned a lot in the short time we had in Rome.
Valentina was amazing! Great tour and loved her energy and funny personality…made it fun! Small group so perfect size. Super knowledgeable and organized….
Well…I can’t stop talking about our tour guide Mario. He handled a small group Vatican Tour. Put it this way…with his knowledge and his background made this tour one of the best tours on our vacation! Talking about putting you in the shoes of early Vatican History. Holy moly he was good! He was so engaging he actually made you feel that you were back in time. He has my whole family engaged! Mario is the man! Thanks !! You made our experience unforgettable!
Would definitely recommend the small group tour, you get to skip the queue. It was very well organised and very informative.
John, our tour guide was amazing. He was very knowledgable and a really nice guy. The tour should have lasted 3 hours but he extended it by half an hour to give us more of an experience. So much to learn and see.
Amazing tour. Gabriel was a great guide, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Highly recommend this for a good way to see the Vatican and Sistine Chapel.
Out tour guide was Jad. He was great! Informative but not overwhelming. Definitely would recommend to anyone wanting a solid tour covering the highlights of the Vatican.
Our tour guide, Daniela was very informative and kept the small group moving at a good pace. There is obviously lots to see and impossible to see everything in such a small timescale. She was obviously very passionate about the Vatican and backed this up with interesting stories. I would highly recommend this tour.
Daniel, was our tour guide, he was very knowledgeable a wonderful guide, very patience. It was a very busy and very hot day when we went. He explained, so many fine details and gave insights that took us all by surprise. He is a great asset to your company. Someone with that kind of knowledge is always a benefit to your company. Thanks Daniel for the great experience
Very well organized tour with an amazing guide Elaine who took us to the most important sights providing enough background information to help us appreciate it. It was clear to me that she really knew what she was doing and loved her job. Thank you!
Tatiana was an excellent guide! She was passionate about the Vatican and what we will be seeing… she also built her narrative well and we left the tour feeling like we needed to cone back for more.
Absolutely phenomenal tour guide, Elaine was so knowledgeable it made the visit so much more enjoyable with her little caveats, she has honestly made my holiday. The experience was smooth, the office and manager at the beginning were very pleasant, just a fantastic experience from start to finish.
The staff was great when we arrived to the tour early, offering us coffee, water, and snacks before we departed. Federica was absolutely lovely- she knew all the important features and timed everything perfectly so that we entered the basilica right when it opened and the crowds were slim. She was so knowledgeable and we were even more impressed to learn she has a PhD in art! Could not recommend this enough. Definitely a highlight of our trip, thank you!!
Elaine was excellent. Tour I felt was essential for a first time experience. We really enjoyed everything about it
Our tour was in Spanish and Alicia was very engaging and full of interesting facts about the Vatican and it's history!
Incredible tour, what a life allowed us to wait inside and were very accommodating, giving out waters as well. John was our guide, super knowledgeable and got us into private spaces in the Vatican. The tour felt particularly special, completed with a group of just 9.
Our small group tour was superb. The tour guide, Elaine, was so knowledgeable and passionate, and her insight and expertise made the experience so much better than trying to tour it alone. Also, starting the tour with great Italian coffee and a pastry was so classy. Definitely recommend What a Life Tours as the best way to see the Vatican.
Our guide was fantastic and very knowledgeable. The tour is fantastic. Be prepared for a lot of stairs especially if you are going to the top of the Basilica, but absolutely worth the climb!
We had a wonderful experience on our small group tour of Vatican City today with Elaine. She was well-informed, friendly and funny. She gave so much information and made navigating the crowded sites very easy. An added bonus was how much you could tell she really loves her job and the history she was sharing. It comes alive and means more when delivered in an authentic way. We would not have gotten nearly as much out of the visit without her.
Elaine was an outstanding tour guide! She made the tour easy, interesting and relatable. Her good relations with the other guides and Vatican staff was evident, allowing us to move swiftly through lines and avoid backups. She was funny and delightful - perfecto!
The tour organizers were disorganized at the meeting point. They did not have our reservation on file despite us having a confirmation. The tour guide did not have knowledge or offer the history of what we were seeing. She only provided her personal commentary. Be aware there is an excessive amount of walking. They did not offer many photo opportunities, and when you attempted to take one you were requested to keep the group moving or don’t stray away. Recommend to look at other tour companies. This tour was very overpriced for the service received.
This Vatican tour was an exceptional experience and a must do if you are Rome. This tour was very organized and educational by a professional team. The skip the line feature is real and essential to this experience! However by far the highlight of this tour was Elaine and the way she marched us through this amazing space. She is very friendly, witty and knowledgable. Heads up that she knows some secret stories that nobody does! :)
Elaine was a great tour guide, you could tell she really knew her stuff and the whole tour was very informative. We also had no problem with any of the queues. Also, Elaine knew which parts to spend more time at and which part of the tour to get through quickly, which I appreciated as it's a long tour. Overall a great tour, we were very happy!
An amazing experience! Our guide , Anna, was very knowledgeable on the subject matter and full of passion. Overall, I would definitely recommend. Thank you Anna !
Enjoyed a guided tour with the entertaining, knowledgable and bubbly Elaine. This tour made our trip to Rome. We felt prepared & dare I say it, smug, as we skipped the queue and proceeded through safe in the hands of our guide who pointed out a myriad of interesting facts……we even spied Sylvester Stallone!!!! Do yourself a favour and book this trip! Exhausted now but unforgettable X
We took a private tour with Elaine in early January and were completely overwhelmed with everything we saw and learned. Elaine's continuous commentary was incredible - so much better than the audio tour - she gave us plenty of opportunity to integrate historical context and ask questions along the way - all the time keeping us on track. I was skeptical of the value / cost - but so thankful we took the tour with Elaine - the best money we spent !
Elaine, our guide kept us informed, enthralled and amused throughout this 3hour+ tour. By starting early and having a guide we missed all the queues (except a short queue for the Vatican Museum). This was my third time in St Peter's but I saw and learned so much more this time. The Vatican Museum was, understandably, a bit of a walk through but we saw the Raphael rooms, the map room and the Sistine Chapel where we could stay as long as we wanted having been given a full explanation of the Michelangelo frescoes. One "complaint" - please don't wait for late arrivals!
We had a wonderful afternoon, thanks to the very good guidance of Lucia. She 's very well-spoken and knows everything about the Vatican. She was also very helpful in answering any questions. When we return to Rome, we 'll surely book another tour.
Our family had a wonderful experience on the Vatican and Sistine Chapel tour with Elaine. We have four kids (10 through three). We were a little concerned about whether their attention would hold. Elaine did a great job of including them in her story telling and explanations, but also speaking to the other adults in the group. She was very entertaining and knowledgeable. The kids learned a lot and so did my husband and I, who are both history majors. It was wonderful having someone on hand who could answer questions about every thing you saw.
The only reason this wasn't 5 stars was that there was a miscommunication of the time the tour started, which caused to rush to get to the meeting point, only then to have to wait 30-45 minutes for the tour to start. Once the tour started, it was fantastic. Elaine was a phenomenal guide: Witty, well-informed, insightful, engaging, full of interesting and unique tidbits of information, and quite adept at helping us negotiate a particularly crowded day. If you can get her as a guide, it adds a ton to this sublime and monumental experience.
Wonderful tour!! Elaine was so fun and a clear Vatican expert! Everyone at What a Life was so helpful!
Elaine was fantastic! Knowledgeable, enthusiastic and fun. It was a great tour. It lasts 4 hours. Highly recommended.
It was a night tour, from 7.30 pm. Having a tour guide made the experience so much better! Carlotta, our guide, is so full of good energy and she made the visit so much more intense and interesting with her passion, knowledgeable insights and humor. We did not feel rushed and he answered everyone’s questions. Would definitely recommend this tour!
I’ve been to the Vatican once before without a tour & this time having a tour guide made the experience so much better! Our guide was Elaine and she was amazing!!! She is so full of knowledge & was cracking us up the entire time. I definitely recommend this tour with Elaine if you’re visiting Vatican City!
We did the tour with Gabriele today. It was really very interesting and the 3 hours flew by (although it was more than 3h because our guide took time for everything). Gabriele was very attentive and had a lot of knowledge that he shared with us. He then accompanied us until the dome rose. He always had time for questions. Unfortunately, we lost 4 members of our group because they did not show up at the agreed meeting point and probably left the chapel on their own. The guide had been looking for them for a while but hadn't found them. So really stick to the instructions and meeting places of the guides. You will experience an unforgettable tour!
Our guide Alicia, very prepared and helpful. Tour and guide really recommended, avoid mileage queues!
Private tour contracted with What a Life Tours and made with the tour guide Alicia Moreno. Very entertaining the whole visit. Alice has many years of experience. Everyone knows her at the Vatican. It adapts the visit according to the needs and the particular situation of the day. We did a private 4-person tour of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums and their magnificent explanations, with a pleasant style of our own that mixes history, anecdotes and curiosities. Great professional 100& recommended. A lot of knowledge. In addition, the entire prior contracting/booking process of the tour and management with the What a Life Tours Agency very quickly. Efficiency and professionalism of Joseph the What Life Tours person I contacted. Clear explanations at all times, solving doubts and pending him reminding the client the day before everything before the visit.
A spectacular visit, very enjoyable, and didactic in which we learned many things that many people do not know and all this was possible thanks to Alicia. Thank you so much for that interesting tour. Surely, if I return to the Vatican, I would not hesitate to have your services.
An excellent choice!!!. We made the visit today, and we have remained silent. Thank you very much for making our visit unforgettable. Especially, highlighting the motivation, knowledge and professionalism of our guide Alicia Moreno Esteban is spectacular!!! Thank you so much for all your explanations and patience.It has greatly exceeded our expectations🤩
We took Alice brunette and it was amazing! A spectacular guide, we learned a lot with Ella, magnificent person, 100 percent recommended the agency.
We took the Vatican tour with Alice. She also knew a lot had a great deal with my mother (older adult). We avoided the lines and everything was great. Super recommended. When I come back I'll look again for What a life Tours
Today we have taken a guided tour of the Vatican with an unbeatable guide, Paola Locci. Needless to say, the knowledge you have about this place and everything related to the Roman Empire. The charm and passion with which he has told us the story makes you live it so intensely that you get goosebumps while you listen to it, does not omit detail and links some things with others getting with it your attention and desire to continue learning. In addition, we must thank you that without prior notice (tourism a problem with the hired guide and called to replace him) has managed to make this an extraordinary visit, we have been very fortunate. I hope you will publish your book and enjoy it. A Paola hug.
We had the opportunity to visit the Colosseum and then the Vatican with Alice. Travel with my parents who are older people and besides being an excellent guide with a huge knowledge of the places and their history, she is very considerate of seniors understanding that their pace is different and being super empathetic to them. We were delighted with both visits and their human warmth. No doubt when I return to my children and husband, I will take their tours again. Super recommended.
We decided to choose the visit to the Vatican with Alice after two recommendations from other relatives. Alice’s tour, explanations, curiosities and enthusiasm for her work made this visit our strong point of the trip, being the best. He told us great details of Raphael’s room, which we toured as well as other fascinating rooms, the Sistine Chapel and the amazing St. Peter’s Basilica. He knew how to tell us the best angles to look at the pictures and details of these, as well as curiosities of the city of Rome and its history. She is certainly an exceptional guide and knows how to pass on her knowledge, motivation and love for Art. THANK YOU!
We visited the Vatican with Alice, she was an excellent guide, loving, attentive, taking care of the group at all times, we did not wait a second to enter the museums and start the tour. Clarisima explanations. At the agency we were greeted with bottles of water and fruit. The only thing I would suggest would be to stop by Rafael's rooms, at the time we missed asking because of the entertaining and impressed with the rest of the museum.
We loved the visit, being a small group you can see everything more comfortably and Alicia was a great guide! It is definitely super recommended!
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