If you are in Rome you will go to Vatican City at some point. It’s inevitable.
From our perspective Vatican City is generally divided into four distinct parts: St. Peter’s Square; St. Peter’s Basilica; Vatican Gardens; and, the Vatican Museums.
The main approach to Vatican City is along a pedestrian zone in Rome. The walk from Castel Sant’Angelo to Vatican City makes for a nice stroll, particularly in the evening when the street lights come on. You just have to watch out for people stopping to take pictures, which is pretty much everybody at some point.
St. Peter’s Square is the large oval plaza in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. A tall Egyptian obelisk is in the center, with fountains and Bernini’s colonnades on each side.
The square is delineated from Italy by a low metal railing. Entrances to Vatican City proper are on the right (north) and left (south) sides, near the colonnades. You just walk right in through open gates. Most of the crowds congregate on the right (north) side as that is where the line to enter the basilica is located.
If you walk around and outside the plaza, past the colonnades, you will notice the Leonine Wall (constructed by Pope Leo VI). It is about 39 feet tall and stretches almost two miles around the majority of Vatican City.
The Vatican Gardens are behind the basilica and museums, largely out of sight. The only way to see the gardens is on a guided tour, which we did not take.
There is always a line to enter St. Peter’s Basilica. The only question is how long. Our plan was to go to the basilica one evening, just before closing and, if that failed, get up super early and get in line the next morning prior to opening. Basically we wanted to avoid, or at least minimize, run-ins with tour groups.
Entry is free. You just have to go through security. There are eight to ten security screening stations. The flow of traffic, and length of the waiting line, is adjusted by opening or closing security stations.
Before the pandemic, visitors to the Vatican Museums could access St. Peter’s Basilica through a side door without having to go outside and join the crowds lined up to enter. Unfortunately that option is no longer available.
By sheer luck, Stephanie and I walked past St. Peter’s a few minutes after 1:00 PM one day and noticed that the line to go through security was super short. We quickly got in line. Ten minutes later we walked into the basilica. I think we hit the sweet spot in timing, just at the tail end of lunch. The morning tour groups were gone and the afternoon tour groups yet to arrive. Sure enough, thirty minutes later the line was easily five times as long.
Another option is to pay for a private guided tour. Walking towards St. Peter’s you will certainly be asked – probably several times – if you have tickets or want to buy a tour ticket. Tours are not for us, but I can see the appeal if the alternative is waiting hours in line.
St. Peter’s Basilica is massive. Looking from the outside you can tell it is large. But you cannot grasp the full size of it until you are inside. Constructed in the 1500s and early 1600s, this is the largest church in the world, one of the four major basilicas, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
All we could do was walk around in amazement at the size and beauty. We walked down a hallway to see the sacristy, but skipped Museo del Tesoro di San Pietro (the Treasury Museum). Perhaps we should have gone in, as the museum was reasonably priced at €5 per person. But Stephanie and I were pretty much done with museums by this point
After seeing Cathedra Petri (St. Peter’s Throne) and circling the Papal Altar, we found ourselves at the entrance to the Grottoes, the tombs of the Popes. The staircase leading below is next to the statue of St. Andrew, and is very easy to miss. Downstairs in the Grottos felt miles away from the crowds above. The few visitors to the Grottos were very quiet and respectful.
The exit from the Grottos is outside onto a patio on the north side of the basilica, right where the line forms to climb to the top of the dome. This was definitely on my to do list. For €8 (551 steps) or €10 (elevator and then only 320 steps) you can go to the observation level of the dome for some of the best views over Rome. I was pretty excited about this until I saw the line. A very, very long line. Never mind. I didn’t have the patience to wait in that line.
We rested on the patio and filled up our water bottles from a large fountain before heading back inside. We did not realize that the exit to the Grottos was outside, and we had yet to walk around about half the basilica. Most importantly we had to see Michelangelo’s statue, Madonna delle Pietà, located in a chapel behind a glass wall.
After another few minutes in the basilica standing and looking around, we called it a day.
Our time in Vatican City continued days later with a guided tour in the Vatican Museums, which you can read about here.
Garrett and Stephanie
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