The Vatican City State is the smallest independent Country in the World, though it still boasts its own postal service, newspaper, radio station and army (the famous Swiss Guards).
In spite of its size, the Vatican contains the largest number of masterpieces in the World!
Your guide will tell you the story of the architectural development of the site, explaining how the lowly tomb of a humble fisherman – the Apostole Peter – became the world centre of Christianity.
Our tour starts with the Vatican Museums, that house an incredible collection of works of art, accumulated by the Popes during the centuries of the Papal Kingdom.
Our focus will be the Sistine Chapel, but on the way to it, we will admire amazing roman statues, we'll walk through galleries and rooms, once part of the Pope's private apartments, as the Gallery of Candelabra, the Gallery of Tapestries, the Gallery of Maps, the “Raphael Rooms”, painted by the Master and his pupils; and a the end, we'll finally get the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel): inside it, you'll have the feeling to be in the centre of the history of italian Art. All around you, freascoes by the most important reinassance Artists, as Botticelli, Rosselli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino; and, of course, the genius Michelangelo, whose Genesis in the ceiling and the Last Judgement in the Altar Wall are the main attraction.
After the Chapel, you'll keep visiting the Vatican adimiring St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world: it took about 120 years to be completed, involving many artists, including Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno, Gianlorenzo Bernini.
The interior is really a jewel-case of masterpieces: certainly you will recognise Michelangelo’s famous “Pietà”, that the Artist carved at the age of 23.
Your attention will be attracted by Bernini’s majestic bronze baldacchino (canopy) that stands 29 m high in the centre of the Basilica, exactly above the main Altar and also marking the spot of St. Peter’s sepulchre.
Our tour will end in Piazza S. Pietro, Bernini’s masterpiece; it’s bounded by two semicircular colonnades, designed to symbolically enclose all the Christians of the world.
In the centre of the square, an Egyptian obelisk stands, moved there from the Caligula’s circus: here, according to the tradition, Peter was martyred.
We will also see the window from where, every Sunday at Noon, the Pope appears to recite the Angelus.

AUDIENCE WITH POPE FRANCIS AND VATICAN TOUR
On Wednesday morning, if the Pope is in Rome, Papal Audiences are held in St. Peter's Square (rarely, expecially in summer, in the Paolo VI Hall).
The Audience usually starts at 10 a.m. with the sign of the Cross, followed by a reading from the Gospel or the life of a saint and the teaching by the Pope. He speaks in italian, but everything is transleted in many lenguages.
At the end, all the pilgrims sing together the Our Father in Latin and the Pope closes the meeting with his general blessing, extended to all are present, their religious articles, their families and beloved ones, and to the newly married couples.
At the beginning, before the Pope gets the stage, he usually goes around the Plaza on his Pope's white mobile, followed by security and swiss guards: if you are lucky and if you have the chance to seat next to the fences, you can even see him very close and take wonderfull pics! Expecially for pilgrims and catholics in general, this is a very special, holy moment.
The Audience is always quite busy and crowded; that's why it is important to get there at least at 7 a.m., in order to ger goos seats.
Tickets are free of charge and seats are not assigned.
Anyways, every wednesday the Vatican provides “tickets”, that are a kind of souvenir for people: on them, you find the date of the Audience, the Our Father in Latin and the General Blessing in Latin too.

IF YOU WISH TO ATTEND THE AUDIENCE, SEND YOUR REQUEST, AND WE WILL BE GLAD TO RESERVE THE TICKETS FOR YOU AND COME WITH YOU. YOUR GUIDE WILL LEAD YOU THROUGH THE CROWD TO GET GOOD SEATS AND, WAITING FOR THE POPES, YOU WILL HAVE A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE VATICAN AND THE PLAZA.
AFTER THE AUDIENCE, YOU CAN GO ON WITH YOUR GUIDE, VISITING THE VATICAN MUSEUMS AND ST. PETER'S BASILICA.