Skip-The-Line:Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & Basilica Optional

The city is well-known for the Vatican Museums, a vast network of museums that includes some of the most remarkable and artistically significant rooms in the Apostolic Palace in addition to an extensive collection of art, archaeology, and ethno-anthropology that the Popes have amassed over the centuries.

Michelangelo's frescoes are the most well-known feature of the Sistine Chapel. Inside the chapel, though, are other equally stunning pieces of art. For example, before Michelangelo, Botticelli was working at the Sistine Chapel. He painted two eye-catching murals depicting the life of Christ and Moses on the walls.

Situated in Vatican City, Rome, Italy, the Fontana della Pigna, sometimes known as just Pigna, is a former Roman fountain that now adorns a sizable niche in the wall facing the Cortile della Pigna.

Access from the Sistine Chapel to the Basilica, avoiding the outside security lines, will only be offered for excursions where the option to enter St. Peter's Basilica is chosen during the reservation process. Following an introduction, you will be allowed to explore the Basilica on your own after your tour concludes at the entrance. Note: Basilica access is optional; if you buy your ticket three days before to the start of your trip, you can enter the basilica.

The Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, which is now a component of the Vatican Museums, has a series of reception rooms known as the four Raphael Rooms (Italian: Stanze di Raffaello). They are well-known for the frescoes that Raphael and his studio produced. They are the magnificent fresco sequences that define Rome's High Renaissance, together with Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Originally, Pope Julius was supposed to live in a series of apartments known as the Stanze.

Part of the Vatican collections in Rome is the ancient Roman sculpture known as the Hermes of the Museo Pio-Clementino. Because of its conspicuous location in the Cortile del Belvedere, it was long admired as the Belvedere Antinous. At the Museo Pio-Clementino, it is currently inventory number 907.

Stop by here, one of the Museum's most visited exhibits, and try to identify the Italian cities you visited or the place where your ancestors lived. These hand-painted maps from the late 1500s are also remarkable for their superb decorations and attention to detail.