This blog post is the second part of our Vatican City experience, exploring Musei Vaticani. If you missed our visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, click here.
Vatican Museums, per its website, consists of 26 museums (!) showcasing artwork and objects amassed over the past several hundred years. The objects range from ancient paintings and tapestries, to currencies, Egyptian artifacts, frescoes, marble statues, and a moon rock from President Richard Nixon. The museums range from the size of one small room to many rooms. For all practical purposes think of it as one museum with many different areas or sections.
The entrance is located on Viale Vaticano, around on the northern side of Vatican City. The area outside the entrance is unmistakable as it is packed with folks joining museum tour groups, or those waiting in a very long line hoping to get inside.
Many different ticket options are available, from a basic ticket to small group private tours costing several hundred euros per person. If you are visiting Rome and intend to go to the Vatican Museums, spend some time in advance figuring out which ticket best suits you.
A basic museum ticket costs €17 per person, plus an additional €7 for the audio guide, should you want one. This is a good deal considering the size of the museums, but you will be drowning in crowds much of the time. Basic tickets go on sale 60 days in advance – and in the summer you should buy tickets as soon as possible.
One of the best decisions we made was paying extra for the Prime Experience Vatican Museums tour, including an “American breakfast”, for €68 each, purchased several months prior to our trip. A limited number of Prime Experience tickets are sold, the benefit of which is being admitted into the museums an hour before opening. Basically you are paying to avoid the crowds, which for us is well worth it, even though we were on a guided tour.
We arrived at the museum entrance at 7:15 AM for our 7:30 AM tour. After going through security we were directed to the Tour Group ticket windows to exchange our voucher for two museum tickets and two complimentary breakfast tickets. Next was the line to pick up a headset for the guided tour. There were probably 30 or 40 folks in this line, but it moves quickly as you are simply picking up a headset.
Each tour is limited to groups of 20. As best we could determine, four Prime Experience tours were sold. Once 20 people had their headsets and were ready to go, a guide joined the group and the tour started.
We were in the third tour group to head into the museums that morning. The tour groups were kept spaced apart. Occasionally we could see another tour group well in front of us, or another tour group behind. But for most of the time it was just our tour group.
Generally our tour took us on the following path:
Sarcophagi of Helena and Constantina;
Sala dela Biga (Hall of the Chariot), marble chariot statue;
Galleria dei Candelabri (Gallery of the Candelabra), marble statues;
Galleria degli Arazzi (Gallery of Tapestries), large tapestries;
Galleria delle Carte Geografiche (Gallery of Maps), large maps;
Appartamento di San Pio V (Apartment of Pio V), more tapestries;
Sala Sobieski and Sala dell’Immacolata Consezione (Room of the Immaculate Conception), frescoes;
Stanze di Raffaello (Raphael Rooms), four rooms famous for their frescoes;
Capella Sistina (Sistine Chapel), a Michelangelo masterpiece, and no photos allowed;
Cappella di San Pietro Martire (Chapel of St. Peter Martyr), small chapel;
Sala degli Indirizzi (Room of Tributes), religious objects;
Sala delle Nozze Aldobrandine (Room of the Aldobrandini Wedding), Roman era fresco and paintings;
Sala dei Papiri (Hall of the Papyri), objects in display cabinets; and,
Museo Cristiano (Christian Museum), more objects in display cabinets … and several gift shops.
The first half of the tour was fairly leisurely and informative. We spent a lot of time in the Gallery of the Candelabra, Gallery of Tapestries, Gallery of Maps, and Raphael Rooms. In the Raphael Rooms our guide suddenly announced that we were behind schedule (probably because the tour group behind us caught up) and hustled us over to the Sistine Chapel.
In the Sistine Chapel we joined the first two tour groups of the morning, so there were now about 65 to 70 people in the chapel. Everyone was able to comfortably find a seat on benches that line the outer walls. We probably spent 10 to 15 minutes admiring Michelangelo’s work before leaving to continue the tour.
For the most part the rest of the tour was simply us walking straight through the various rooms with few pauses. Our guide was somewhat apologetic for rushing us, noting that we were behind schedule having spent more time in the most popular and important museum areas. She strongly suggested that we return to the museum at our leisure after breakfast, particularly the Vatican Pinocoteca (Art Gallery).
Breakfast was served at 9:30 AM in an outdoor dining area in the Cortile della Pigna (Pigna Courtyard). After presenting our voucher Stephanie and I were seated at a table. On the table was two place settings and a paper bag filled with small bread rolls. A menu was available for specialty orders, but we stuck with the “American Breakfast”.
There was zero rhyme or reason as to how the breakfast was handled. After a few minutes of us sitting and wondering what to do, a server dropped off a plate with three Danish pastries on it. Nothing was said. Okay. A few other tables were getting drinks. We were not. Hmmm.
Another few minutes go by and a platter of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, cheese slices, and prosciutto was dropped off by a different server. No condiments or spices. Bland and cold. Yum.
Two guys at the table next to us mentioned seeing a short line at a table on the other side of the dining area. Having no idea what it was, one of them undertook a reconnaissance mission. It was a pancake station, with yogurt, ketchup, salt, and pepper.
It sure would have been nice to know that twenty minutes earlier.
One of those guys dumped about a pound of salt and pepper onto his eggs and potatoes and was still struggling to eat them. Either bland or cold can be tolerated, but not both.
Finally a server came to take our drink orders. Two coffees. We each needed some caffeine. I forgot to order an orange juice and was later cussing myself.
While I was in line for pancakes the lady next to me asked about spoons for the yogurt. Good question. I was holding two yogurts in my hand and didn’t think about the absence of spoons on the table. The guy working the pancake station ran into the kitchen and came back with a handful of spoons … those tiny spoons that come with those similarly tiny espresso drinks sold at cafés. No, thanks. It would probably take me half an hour to eat a yogurt with a tiny spoon. I told the lady that we would be better off using forks, as she nodded her head in agreement.
Breakfast lasted a about half an hour. As it turned out, the pancakes, yogurt, sausage, bacon, and pastries were pretty good. By the time we finished I had completely forgotten how atrocious the eggs and potatoes were. I could have used another coffee, but trying to flag down and talk to a server was next to impossible so I gave up.
We left the dining area shortly after 10:00 AM, and by then the museums were packed. It got very crowded very fast.
Stephanie and I definitely wanted to go to the Art Gallery. There are signposts all over the museums directing visitors to the various areas. Well, we misread the signs and accidently ended up wandering through the Museo Gregoriano Egizio (“Gregorian Egyptian Museum”). We hustled through it as fast as possible.
It was then that I realized we did not have a map of the museums. I vaguely understood the layout of the place, but not well enough to get around by signposts alone. We pushed our way upstream through the incoming crowds near the museum entrance, but could not tell if a map or brochure was even available.
After giving up on obtaining a map or brochure, I located an online map which was perfect. After taking a few minutes to get my bearings, we were ready to explore the museums on our own.
At least we were near the Art Gallery, so our fighting our way back to near the entrance was not in vain.
The Art Gallery houses paintings from the 1100s to 1500s, including those by Raphael, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, and Caravaggio, as well as the original tapestries that hung in the Sistine Chapel. Few tour groups visit this area and it was not very crowded.
Of all the different museum areas we next decided to go to the Collezione Arte Contemporanea (“Contemporary Art Collection”). Though not our usual cup of tea, the collection includes works by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali.
To get there we had to take the same long walk that we made at the start of our tour, through the Gallery of the Candelabra, Gallery of Tapestries, Gallery of Maps, Apartment of Pio V, Room of the Immaculate Conception, and Raphael Rooms.
This is the Gallery of Maps at 8:15 AM and 11:00 AM:
The value of our Prime Experience Vatican Museums tour was on full display.
After pushing past the crowds and barging through numerous tour groups, pausing only in the Raphael Rooms (as that was my favorite part of the museums), we made it to the Contemporary Art Collection. The artwork is contained in many small rooms, most of which are connected by a long, narrow hallway.
The bad news is that pretty much all of the tour groups walk down this hallway to get from the Raphael Rooms to the Sistine Chapel. The good news is that none stop. The Contemporary Art Collection is one of the least crowded places in the museums.
On the way back we again passed through the Sistine Chapel, now packed tight with several hundred tourists staring up. It was standing room only with about a two-foot-wide walkway off to one side. I don’t think either of us bothered to look up as we quickly made our way to the exit and out at the far side.
We decided against seeing any of the other dozen or so museum areas. It was time to go. Before leaving, we passed four or five gift shops, several snack stands, and a couple of cafeterias. It you want to spend money in the Vatican Museums, you will have a chance to do so.
After five hours, we were out of there about noon. Whew.
Garrett and Stephanie
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Great summary and tips!