Musei Vaticani-Dipertimento di Architettura Roma Tre Review

If you're in Rome you should definitely visit the Vatican museums, even if you're catholic or not. It's got many things to see not related to religion.

It's a magical place unfortunately some of the exhibitions have been closed due to repairs. My advice book a guided tour, you get to skip a long line and some if the information aren't available except via tour guides.

It is an astonishing place. Even if you are not Catholic you should go to learn from its history behind. I highly recommend you buy the tickes online otherwise be ready to spend 2 or 3 hours in lines.

Absolutely amazing art by some of the best artists that have lived on this planet

Entry to St Peter's Basilica should be from Sistine Chapel for everyone who wishes to go there. Presently this facility is extended to only guided tour and not individual tourist. This is without logic and changed forthwith.

Listen. I LOVE museums.

I feel almost guilty rating the Vatican 1 star because it's ~THE VATICAN, but I was really disappointed.

Short version: High prices. Insane crowds. Miserable, exhausting, and frankly unsafe inside. Art was disappointing and overrated.

I have been living in Italy for nearly 5 months now, so I have come to expect a certain level of inefficiency with everything I do here, but this was something else.

I did my required research and saw that you should buy tickets ahead of time but that it costs a bit extra and you can't get a student discount. I was under the impression that was still the best option however, until a few different friends told me that waiting in line wasn't bad at all if you get there in the morning, and then you can save a few extra Euros buying tickets in person. Currently on a super tight budget so I took the advice and once we got there it was instant REGRET. You'll wait in line all day. So instead of saving money, we ended up spending an extra 10 to skip the line.

Personally I think I would have been even more disappointed with the experience if I had waited in line all day instead of shelling out 10 more euros, but that is just me.

I recognize that it was never meant to be a museum, but even still the flow is HORRIBLE. You will miss rooms and have no way to push through the crowds to get back to them. Inside you are herded like cattle packed in hot and smelly rooms. I just needed some air. I felt like I was going to pass out at points.

These conditions would be worth it to me if there was something INCREDIBLE to see, but there honestly isn't. Even the Sistine Chapel. I recommend Basilica San Silvestro if you want to see an even more beautiful ceiling without crowds of people shoving you.

Prado in Madrid and the Louvre in Paris are so much better that it's hard to say that the Vatican museum is even in the same league.

It was not even worth half of the price.

Honestly I wouldn't go again even if it was completely free.

Overcrowded, overly hot, not well organized. Overall, a great museum that is not run well, unfortunate.

Going with a group guide gets you through faster as it helps focus on what's worth looking at

GOOSEBUMPS!!

I don't know how to describe it...but the pictures will! The museum is amazing..well organised, secured and very big.

In the areas outside the museum you will find people that will advise to pay more in order to skip the line..35 and the normal price is 17

If you skip the original line you will find your self in an other one.

We went at 10 am we took the normal line and paid 17 .
Waiting line time for 30-40 min I think ,but its worth it.

Inside it was so crowded (maybe because its Saturday and Sunday they are closed...I advise you to go during the week)

The negative part is that it was so crowded inside...specially in the small rooms .. we were walking like robots!

Visited the museum immediately after it reopened from lockdown. Needless to say it was pure beauty, and without tourists you can really feel the magic.
I stayed about 3 hours, from 7 pm all the way to the closure at 10 pm and I still feel I need another two or three visits to really appreciate everything.
Worth every single euro spent.

The art in here is obviously amazing but the number of visitors it's ridiculous. There is no way to enjoy the beauty of the art when you have to fight to go through the rooms. I have seen people with panic attacks, fainting and so on in the hot summer days... The Vatican should limit the number of people inside the galleries and in the Sistine chapel!

AMAZING... Never seen anything like it.. history at it's best..

Awe-inspiring. Honestly, too overwhelming to take in in one trip. Definitely recommend splurging on a guide as they can give you the inside scoop on the stories behind the art and the various rooms. Look for the Pope's bedroom with gold-covered pinecones on the ceiling - the gold was the first from the New World brought back by Columbus, and pinecones are fertility symbols, so that makes for an interesting story . ;)

Standard ticket is 17 euros, 24 if you take the audio guide. I would also recommend spending extra 4 euro and booking your tickets online, saves you standing in the queue, with the rest of the people who still need a ticket... The Museum is a collection of seperate, dedicated museums. There is one that covers Edypt, Greece, the Roman Empire, Mosopotamia and lots of contemporary religious art. There are many, many other variations on the topics above. It is quite amazing to see all these once dominant religions and cultures under one roof. What a collection! It will take you about 1h30 - 2h to see it all at a slow space. But be ready for a lot of walking! Comfy shose are a must. Toilets are far and few between. The only place to eat/drink is in the courtyard which is situated in the middle. Ultimately I have to say this has been one of the biggest and best museal experiences ever. Loved every bit of it... oh and towards the end you enter the Sistine Chapel....which is just a marvel of it's own. Can't recommend enough! If you visit Vatican, this place is a must.

As expected, fantastic history, arts and architecture. But, be prepared to confront hoards of crowd. The overcrowded environment compels you to hurry through the attractions. I heard there are options where if you pay big bucks, you get a more personalized tour in a small group before the Vatican even opens for the day!

This place is amazing but it deserves a bad review because of all scammers around that openly try to sell tickets much more expensive that the real price, their mouths is full of lies! In front of the church, what a shame! And in front of police that hear everything but absolutely do not react! Outrageous.
Vatican should protect their visitors and tourists against this. It's about their honor and reputation!

Absolutely beautiful. So much history sometimes too much to take in all at once . Do the tour but take a chance to see it on your own too after as there is so much to take in the tour can feel a bit rushed

One of the largest museums of the world with fascinating collections amassed by the Holy Popes over centuries. Entry tickets are 17 for general category of visitors. Come prepared to stand in queue for about 2 hours if you have not reserved your tickets beforehand. Else you can get skip-the-line tickets from agents roaming around at about double the price , don't forget to bargain though!
Entry closes at 4pm.

Don't miss the perfectly preserved mummy in the Egyptian section. And Rodin's famous "The thinker". The stories depicted in Raphael's Rooms. The Sistine Chapel will continue to elude you till the end , but as we all know , every good thing need patience. The Chapel will leave you in awe , do a little bit of research about the frescoes beforehand to appreciate the beauty of the paintings .

A beautiful must see and learn site - need to improve people/crowd control- make sure to be well hydrated beforehand and bring water

Overwhelming with historical art. Simply amazing if you're going to the Vatican for the first time. I would definitely book a tour though because the general line to visit could take hours. With a tour, you get to skip the general line and you also learn so much!

We were waiting in a line to get to the Vatican museum for like 2,5 hours. If you dont want to wait,then reserve your tickets and maybe the "skip the line" option would be great aswell. If you wait in the line outside,do NOT buy any tickets from other people,there are a lot of them trying to sell "skip the line" tickets,it is a scam,just ignore them. Other thing,you need to have your shoulders and knees covered,if you want to go to the Sistine Chapel or to the Basilica and again,do NOT buy any scarfs from others,they are buying them for 1 euro and selling them to others for like 15 euro. You can go to near street market,which is like 100 metres from the waiting line and buy the scarfs for 1 euro by yourself or just wear a t-shirt and long pants.
Otherwise,it was worth the wait.

Must visit. One of the best museums in the world. Have to buy fast track tickets on line in advance. getting a guided tour is worth it but come back for at least one tour on your own.Plan for a whole 5-6 hrs.

I would give this experience a zero if I could. What you see is not worth what you have to go through to see it. They allow so many people inside that it is extremely unsafe (gotta make that money) and I couldn t even begin to think what they would do in an emergency as there aren t really any staff on hand until it s time to make sure you don t take pictures of the Sistine Chapel (they want to sell you pictures, of course) and then there is a staff member every five feet. It s literally wall to wall people with no ventilation and it was so hot a tour guide passed out and had to receive medical attention. People- being people- are extremely rude and inconsiderate and my 7 year old was almost trampled several times as people could not exhibit the slightest amount of kindness or patience (good Christians of course) while navigating an overly crowded venue. I wouldn t really recommend taking small children unless you plan on carrying them part of the time just to keep them safe.
Bottom line, terrible experience and there are far more interesting places to see in Rome that don t have a tenth of the crowd or that regulate how many people can be inside at once like the Coliseum does.

The vatican is impressive, its beautiful, amazing and the arts within its walls are just breathtaking. You don't have to be a follower to enjoy. The place is huge so make sure you plan your visit.

Pretty good, but the city needs to make the admission process more clear. Right now the immigrants and fake agents are like bees to a honey pot and tourists are becoming the victims. It seems like the city is unwilling to do much about it. Tickets can be purchased at the Vatican Post Office. Don't buy from anyone who wants to lure you away to a "ticket office". Trust nobody who pretends to be there for tourist information.

If you are the slightest fan of art, then this is the place to visit. Abseloutely stunning, and quite cheap.
But be ready to spent a lot of time, because it is crowded!

One of the finest collections in the world (and trust me, I've been to a lot of museums of the world). Truly incredible. My personal advice - order tickets online, there is no line like that(otherwise the line goes on for at least 400m)

It was really full of people so it was hard to appreciate it as much as with less people.

A have to place to visit in Rome, regardless of religion.

Simply amazing! So much art! Painting, sculpture, mosaic, pottery... Greco-Roman, Egyptian, classical antiquities, of course Christian... so much to see! Took the kids on a whirlwind run through (fully aware they'd not have the stamina for a full trip) , and we didn't see nearly 1/3 of what we wanted to. Thank God we got the skip the line pass, too, or else we'd have been stuck in the queue for THREE hours! Even then, though, this place would have been worth it, and not only for the Sistine Chapel, which is understandably a huge draw and focus in and of itself. I could have spent three full days exploring just these rooms, and still probably not experience everything it has to offer. In fact, my least favourite part was the Chapel, because the other people there had absolutely no reverence or respect for the place, and completely ignored the fact that it's a functional chapel... just rude. But amazing art! Highly recommend spending a full day, and using the Skip the Line ticket. Also, there's a free bag/ coat check inside, where they made me leave my regular size backpack.

Marvelous piece of Roman architecture.. Well Maintained and you can still watch the ancient sculpture with its proper carvings, colors and designs. All the buildings have some stories behind it, which is very exciting part.. All the building has both inner and outer sculpture and drawings with some associated meanings... Queues will be long as the day approaches.. So try to be early in the day to ave time...

Definitely worth seeing when in Rome. The Vatican is easily accessible through metro and a 5 minute walk. If travelling in a small group/couple, do yourself a favour and purchase the tickets in advance as the wait could easily be more than 2 hours. We enjoyed the walk through the museum, visiting the Sistine Chapel. Note that if you exit the museum, you cannot re-enter without purchasing another ticket.

One of the best museums I have ever been. When you are in Rome it is a must to see it. Highly recommended to buy the ticket online in advance since queue to get there is huge.

Absolutely beautiful. The only draw back was the crowds inside. If you are claustrophobic please be aware. I am not claustrophobic however there were several times when the air was just so thick that it was almost unbearable

It is huge. You can easily spend a day there, but lines of people is overwhelming. Therefore, please plan and be there way early to get into the Museum on time

The most beautiful museum I have ever seen! Wherever you are, you need to visit this wonderful place!

Extremely crowded, many exhibitions are closed, the security ushers people out of rooms that were open to the public. Many exhibits lack any sort of description, some descriptions are damaged and impossible to read. Pictures and talking are not allowed in the sistine Chapel, yet the guards will speak over the microphone asking for silence. Overall, the art is breathtaking and beautiful, however the organizational side leaves a lot to improve.

Beautiful. Make sure you "DO NOT BUY TICKETS ONLINE OR OUTSIDE VENDOR" thre are always available txts. And line move fast. Took me 2 mins to get in. Dont get desive by outside crowd a lot of tours. If you have cjildten or young adults till 25 yrs bring school I.D. pay 8 euros adults 17 eauros. Nothing else to pay unless you want to pay for tour. Outside vendor trying to rip you off 35 eauros and tell you is includef the St Peters Basilica" the Basilica is FREE! TO GET IN. ONLY HAVE TO PAY 10 E FOR IF YOU WANT TO GO UP ON THE DOME.HOPE THIS HELP BEST TIME TO GO EARLY OCTOVER GREAT WEATHER!

Such an amazing museum. So rich in sculpture and paintings. Plan a 4 hours tour and book in advance so you can skip the line (up to 2 hours queue usually).

Great place for art lovers but of course there is strong Christian influence ;). It's worth to visit VM in the morning and skipping all rooms it's good to go directly into Sistine Chapel. Tickets only online. If you by it on Rome-museum website, they enter you skipping long queue.

It is just gorgeous. Nothing else can compare to this one.

the artworks are amazing. long lines to go in but worth it. not allowed to take pictures at the Sistine Chapel.

It's beautiful, stunning and the guides were full of knowledge...

I've been to the Vatican museums and Sistine chapel in peak season before and had a miserable time in the busy heat. I paid for an expensive early morning tour with LivItaly and it was worth it to see a lot of the artwork and architecture without the crowds.

A truly beautiful and amazing experience. Would recommend doing this . But try to do it on your own as the group tours are not very good

While in Rome have it on the list cause is much more to see but an esrly booking, ticket or group is recommended!

This was a crush of people. We opted to take one of the "Skip the line" tour guide companies up on their offer. It was expensive (41 euros each) but ultimately worth it. The tour guides allow you to exit the Sistine Chapel directly into the basilica. Without that tour guide you have to queue back up to see St. Peters. That would have been easily another two hours based on when were there. I did feel like the hour long tour breezed past too much, but I can understand there were just too many people. It's obviously easy to spend several days at the Vatican before you can see everything. The tour guide tour really does focus on the chapel and glosses over a lot of what else is there unfortunately. Plus the groups were large enough to be unwieldy. All in all, if you have the time, do it on your own, but if your short on time, go ahead and buy your way out of line.

If you go rome you need to visit the Vatican. Purchase online the tickets and avoid the cues.

Vatican Museum is one of the many attractions that I never will miss during my visit. Just the way up and down using the spiral staircase is a perfect subject for photography. The complete museum is so awesome and worthful to see. Please visit this and you will never regret!

Absolutely stunning. So much to take in. History, culture, religion, art... The Vatican museums are just incredible!

Life time memory. More time is required to go around.

A truly awe-inspiring museum. There are just so many amazing things to see that one can and will become overwhelmed with it all about three quarters of the way through.
The staff is helpful and multilingual. Official guides are quite friendly and know their stuff.

That being said, don't show up without having first booked tickets, or you may be waiting in line outside for an uncomfortably long period of time.

The museum is very crowded. So much that you actually do not see anything but people around you. You would be more concentrated and concious about valuables in your pocket. Do not take local guided tours. They won't be explaining properly. We felt it was waste of money. Instead, book tickets 2 months prior to your visit. Audio guide will be available.

So many historical paintings and architecture present, as well as artifacts that was preserved. It is a well deserved place to go to if you are going to Rome.

Such a fantastic visit and collection of artwork. So happy I got to visit.

Better to buy tickets in advance, although in the beginning of December there were no major queues. But once you are in be ready to spend some hours inside of huge crowds, mostly waiting to get a chance to stand next to art pieces. Better to always know which things you want to see and have a clear plan, probably having a tour guide is really helpful. Don t miss a chance to send a postcard from Vatican City, that is probably the only stamp from Vatican you can get.

Definitely get the "skip the line" passes and go early in the morning (8am). There is quite a bit of walking and some stairs before you see the Sistine Chapel. They do allow photographs everywhere but the Sistine Chapel. You can easily spend hours in the museum and the church. We were able to see the old apartments that the Popes used and original works from Michelangelo and Raphael. You do have to pass through a metal detector to enter the museums and they will make you lock up large bags and umbrellas.

We had a fantastic tour guide by the name of Daniella. She was very good with her details & she answered all of our questions. What a fantastic person for the job. I would highly recommend this service to visitors coming to Rome. Thanks for an awesome experience.

Amazing museum! Totally worth the money and you can spent many hours there! Really good place to go to on a rainy day.

A lot to artwork, a lot of walking. Better to visit in morning when you have all the energy

Simply amazing. One of our favorite places in Italy. We went on a "City Wonder" tour, which let us skip the super long line. It was about $60 per person, for 3 hours. Definitely worth it! The museum is HUGE, and it's really useful having a tour show you the highlights and the hilarious stories about Michaelangelo. A must see.

Ok, crowded, if you absolutely have to... Otherwise there s a hundred and one better things to do in and around Rome.

Nice place to see but we went peak season and it was very crowded. Luckily we went with a tour as lines were very long and it was too hot to wait. Well worth the visit.

Visitors advise
Select a good tour guide in your language and if you afford to have a private tour is way better
In that case you will skip lines and will have a better tour inside the Vatican
It is really large place and you will get lost if you are not following the map correctly and if you will use the Audio devices will take long time it s somehow not the best option
It s a very rich museum and I do recommend you to take 2 days or one full day to enjoy the art and the treasures of the Vatican

Fantastic art, it's just a shame we were so rushed through.

It is worth to visit Vatican museum. Just you keep on wondering how something so beautiful was made

Everything is so mesmerizing in there, totally worth the money

Wonderful. Not enough words to describe the beauty and history. Our tour guide Lica from CityWonders was full of knowledge and grace.

Excellent. Worth visiting and so much to see about the vatican history

This place is huge!! So many rooms and expositions.. I am not very much a museum person but some of the exhibitions are interesting.,specially the ancient Egypt. But be prepared to walk a lot and see a lot of different things

Get a half day guided tour. You get a very knowledgeable guide and hit the highlights. Importantly, guided tour means you skip the line... priceless like the art etc at the Vatican museums.

the best of best museum in the world. No need to explain. Just go and see everything.

Impossible to enjoy with so many people. They should only allow groups of 10 max when doing tours because there were some with 50 or more in a group. So rude and loud and little respect for other people. Just run over you or push you out of the way. Majority of them were so fixated on taking pics ....that i doubt they even know what they are taking pics of. If you like shoulder to shoulder crammed in small places and like to be pushed and shoved then you may enjoy it. If not, pay for the early morning expensive tour through a reputable tour guide. It will be money well spent. ... and last thing... there is no slow or off season anymore.

Beautiful and full of stunning artworks. Somewhat over filled with people at one time as the tour groups tend to push you along.