Your guide will meet you and your semi-private group by the entrance to the Vatican Museums. Your tour will start with a taste of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s background and will tell you how a sculptor from Florence ended up being commissioned to paint a fresco for Pope Julius II, a notoriously difficult pope. Your guide will tell you stories of how Michelangelo considered himself more of a sculptor than a painter, and had little desire to paint what is now considered a Renaissance masterpiece – the Sistine Chapel.

Now on the move, your expert guide will take you on a brief tour of the Vatican galleries before entering into the Raphael Rooms. Thanks to this experience you will be able to get up close to Raphael frescoes, enjoy its beauty and appreciate the intimacy of his work. Next, the masterpiece: the Sistine Chapel.

Once inside the small chapel, fully enjoy the detailed intellectual and emotional depictions as the soft morning light seeps through the windows. Michelangelo chose some of the most prominent stories to tell from the Book of Genesis such as the famous The Flood, the Creation of Adam and The Fall. Looking straight ahead and you will see the stunning portrayal of The Last Judgement, where Christ is surrounded by sinners and believers. The Sistine Chapel covering over 8,000 square feet of the ceiling was never meant to be an ordinary fresco, but a religious and political statement of the times, leaving us with an incredibly intricate view of the Renaissance world.

Note
Starting in 2024, the Vatican Museums will discontinue early access for all tour providers, instead opening to the public at 8AM. This tour will then be offered as a first entrance experience, which we recommend for a less crowded, more personalized, and fully guided experience.