Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel guided tour Optional Basilica.

The Vatican Museums showcase 20,000 items from the extensive collection gathered by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, include numerous renowned Roman sculptures and significant masterpieces of Renaissance art.

The Chapel of Sistine It hosts the papal conclave, which is the procedure used to choose a new pope. Its internal frescoes, especially the Sistine Chapel ceiling and Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, are the principal source of the Sistine Chapel's fame.

Discover one of the many outdoor courtyards in the Vatican. The courtyard gets its name from the enormous bronze pinecone sculpture that adorns this one.

Stop by here, one of the Museum's most visited galleries, 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. Try to identify the reference to Christopher Columbus' transatlantic journey.

Admire the rooms painted by Raphael and his students around the same time as the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo's finest work of art inspired and pushed Raphael.

There are other smaller, distinct museums within the Vatican. The most significant of these is perhaps the Museo Pio Clementino, and it is impossible to miss any of its numerous highlights! Visit the Round Room to see the gigantic marble bathtub guarded by a massive bronze statue of Heracles, or the Octagonal Courtyard to see the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoonte. Visit the Room of the Animals to see a sculpture of your favourite animal, or simply take in the breathtaking views of the Gallery of the Candelabra's 3D-painted vaults.

The vastness of the Vatican Museums is enormously impressive, but St. Peter's Basilica is even more of a "wow factor." Words cannot adequately convey the interiors' immense capability, leaving any visitor speechless. It took an astounding 120 years to construct, beginning in 1506, and was 613 feet long by 85 feet wide by 147 feet high. Walk into the canter-right nave to see Bernini's 30-foot-tall bronze Baldachin, which is situated directly on top of the location of St. Peter's grave, and marvel at Michelangelo's unmatched Pieta. Basilica access is optional; if you buy your ticket three days before to the start of your trip, you can enter the Basilica.