Thomas McGrath

Review of Musei Vaticani-Dipertimento di...

Rafael, michelangelo, dali, countless rooms full o...

Rafael, michelangelo, dali, countless rooms full of one of a kind works of art. When in rome.. this and st peter's are two essential spots that happen to be within meandering distance from each other. The audio guides in the vatican museum are very accessible with little to no background knowledge. Big tip: order your tickets for the vatican museum ahead of time to skip a 20 minute wait. Also the museum is too big to cover in less than 3 hours - this museum is definitely a full afternoon's worth of activity. As for the line skipping at st peters: no such luck. I can't speak in general, but on may 4th the line took us 1 1/2 hours during peak times (american schools had just finished, and many european schools had as well), so expect lines to be long unless you pay for a guided tour, which you might not want. At st peter's make sure to admire the pieta, bernini's four-poster center piece, some of the wonderful frescos, the popes' graves on the lower level, and the upper level in the dome above bernini's four-poster.