Vatican City is a city-state located within the heart of Rome, Italy. It serves as headquarters to the Roman Catholic Church and home to the Pope. With prominent landmarks such as St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City serves as a global hub for culture and religion.
As part of my stay in Rome, visiting the Vatican City was part of my bucketlist. However, due to late trip planning with my friends Jack, Kabir, Alec, and Madison, the only available way to skip the general public line into the city was through booking a guided tour. With only two tickets left, Madison and I booked our Vatican City tour for a bright and early Tuesday morning.
Up and out by 7am, Madison and I walked along the Tiber River from our Airbnb in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome to the meeting point for our tour group just outside the Vatican City walls. We waited for what felt like forever before our tour guide, a little lady from Moldova, finally appeared to gather the group. After quick introductions from everyone in the group, to which our tour guide mistook the two of us as a couple (lol), we made our way to the main Vatican City tour group entrance through the museums. Walking around this early in the day, it was pretty cool to see St. Peter's Square, the large area in front of the St. Peter's Basilica, so empty! This place was quick to fill up with people as the day went on.
I really didn't take too many photos once inside the museums, living most of the tour in the moment. But I did manage to take some photos of statues, paintings, and other structures that stood out to me. For instance, in one of the outdoor courtyards there was a giant pinecone-like structure, and across from it, a large fractured golden sphere. Indoors, there were tons of statues lines up and down the halls and all along the walls. The most notable, near which our tour guide stopped to talk, was a marble statue of Hercules.
In another room, the walls were lined with statues of all sorts of different animals. I took a few photos here and there, but again, really just tried to enjoy the art in the moment. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I happened to walk past some well-known sculpture or painting while walking through the museum rooms. We ended our time in a circular room, surrounded by giant statues of famous mythological figures with a sky-lit dome above. While most of the statues were made from marble, one in particular stood out with its golden glow - a statue I've later learned was another of Hercules.
The last piece of art I'd like to highlight from within the museums, though I don't recall where specifically, is this ceiling fresco. What stood out is that, among the many works of art featured in the museums, this one has what resembles a camera-like device at the bottom of the painting. I just found it quite funny that, for so many Renaissance style paintings throughout the museums, the artist of this one decided to add a touch of 19th century modern life.
The last part of the guided tour took us through the famous map room (which I didn't know was famous until after the tour - oops) and the Sistine Chapel. Though I decided to follow the rules, and as a result, didn't get to take my own photo of the Sistine Chapel ceiling artwork, I did learn some interesting "fun facts" from our tour guide. For instance, in the Sistine Chapel, they used to perform ceremonies with the Pope that involved black smoke. And over the years, the black smoke settled on top of the ceiling and darkened the paintings. When they finally decided to clean the artwork through restoration projects, they left a few small squares of soot to show the before and after.
At the end of the tour, we were dropped off in front of St. Peter's Basilica. And I've got to say, both on inside and out, this has got to be the largest church I've ever seen. Everything was just massive. We walked through the basilica in awe, with giant statues of famous religious figures at every turn and gold decor lining the walls and ceilings. And to top it all off, we made our ascent to the top of the dome to catch stunning views out over St. Peter's Square (in front of the basilica) and the surrounding landscape.
Fun fact: I was so tired from exploring the Vatican all morning that, upon returning to the Airbnb in the early afternoon, I passed out until dinner time. Vatican City was definitely a cool spot to check out, especially being so close to it in Rome, it would've been a shame not to visit. But other than the cultural aspects of the city, since I'm not super religious I couldn't fully appreciate the religious significance of the site.