Vatican Custom Tours - Italy Hotline Custom and Gourmet Tours

Vatican

The Vatican City is one of the top destinations in the world due to the sheer number of masterpieces held within its amazing complex of palaces and the baroque splendor of the Basilica of St. Peter. It is full of surprises. Although the center of the Roman Catholicism, it contains the largest collection of pagan art in the world. It is the second smallest city state with the world's largest museum spread through 1,700 rooms in dozens of interconnected palaces. It is a very good place to have a guide, someone who will take you on an amazing visit through this incredible labyrinth focusing on the not to be missed masterpieces, revealing their pagan inspiration and how that created the rebirth of culture after the Dark Ages that resulted in the Renaissance. You will walk in the footsteps of the greatest thinkers, where a quite lively scene took place when Renaissance and Baroque artists and architects were pitted against each other and fought for the Pope's attention, in the process creating the most beautiful masterpieces of art in the world. Where visionaries such as the “Warrior Pope” commissioned the building of St. Peter's and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Where intrigue and scandal never lurked far away. The list of artists found here is impressive; Giotto, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bernini and Caravaggio- artists who pulled away from the medieval mind and gave birth to a new creativity that shook even the Church's very foundations. Our Vatican tours decode the secrets of these works of art which have been collected by the popes for over 500 years, housed in papal palaces and opened to the public in 1929. An unforgettable highlight of the tour is Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel with its famous frescoes including the Creation of Adam and the Last Judgment. Painted by a reluctant Michelangelo, his anguish is clearly reflected in these masterpieces of great beauty, full of complex symbolism on an awe inspiring scale. Together we'll decipher the hidden meanings and reconstruct the original painting as originally completed by Michelangelo, where to the Pope's dismay most figures were shockingly naked! Throughout this incredible complex your guide will reveal to you the stories of mystery, power and intrigue of the Vatican City.

Rome Museums

Complete Vatican City

An in-depth visit to the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica with ample time to appreciate the wealth of sacred and profane history, art, and religion contained within the fortified walls. With your guide you will explore the Vatican City in all of its splendor with a focus on the history of the most poignant great works of art and their hidden symbols and stories giving you an insider's view that you will never forget. We start in the Vatican Museums by illustrating the dramatic progression of painting from the Dark Ages to the Baroque through a handful of masterpieces by Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael and Caravaggio. Next we go further back in time with the most profound and fascinating works of art from the Ancient Pagan World that inspired so many great artists from Michelangelo and Raphael to Bernini and Canova. Marble portrait busts shock us with their realism giving a glimpse of the ancient Romans themselves. Continuing through the beautiful palaces your guide will bring to life the most prized artworks of ancient Rome including the Laocoon, Belvedere Torso and the Apollo Belvedere. Rare colossal sculptures of gods and goddesses greet us as we make our way through the most important galleries of ancient art.

Vatican City Express

This tour covers the same sites as the Complete Vatican City above, minus the Pinacoteca and the Tombs of the Popes under St. Peter's Basilica. Perfect for those who want to see it all, but are short on time.

The Vatican City is one of the most amazing places to visit on the planet, no matter what ones personal views on religion are. This tour gives a fascinating in-depth visit to the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica with ample time to appreciate the wealth of sacred and profane history, art, and religion contained within the fortified walls. With your guide you will explore the Vatican City in all of its splendor with a focus on hidden symbols, secrets, myths and stories along with the poignant great works of art and their history giving you an insider's view that you will never forget.

Our visit starts in the Vatican Museums where entering the dramatic Courtyard of the Pinecone we are taken back in time as we see the most profound and fascinating works of art from the Ancient Pagan World which inspired the greatest minds in the history of art from Michelangelo and Raphael to Bernini and Canova. In the Hall of Busts marble portraits shock us with their realism and give us a personal glimpse of the ancient Romans themselves. Continuing through the beautiful Belvedere Courtyard, The Animal Rooms, the Hall of the Muses, The Round Room, the Room of the Cross, and the Hall of the Candelabra your guide will bring to life the most prized artworks of ancient Rome including the Laocoon, the Belvedere Torso, the Apollo Belvedere, the giant marble bath, an enormous and complex mosaic and rare colossal sculptures of gods and goddesses- a pagan world all held within the walls of the Vatican City! Two enormous sarcophagi made for Emperor Constantine mark the meeting of Pagan and Christian and twin Egyptian Sphinx sculptures take us back to an Empire which predated the Romans. Poignant masterpieces of ancient sculpture include the Baby Bacchus being carried by a faun, a touching sarcophagus of a young boy and the bizarre and dramatic Diana of Ephesus. Leaving the Pagan World behind, in the Hall of the Tapestries we will see the incredibly detailed giant wall hangings designed by the School of Raphael dramatizing the life of Christ as well as a remarkable trompe-l'oeil ceiling. Then one of the most incredible records of the Papal world- the incomparable Hall of Maps with its elaborate golden ceiling and frescoes reveals itself detailing all of the Papal territories, towns and cities, depictions of battles and fanciful sea monsters- a cross between scientific inquiry and fantasy.

In the small Sobieski Room we see a painting of monks hung by the church for supporting the theory that the earth was round, a giant battle against the Turks and in the Room of the Immaculate Conception frescoes celebrate the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In the sublime Raphael Rooms, the grand apartments of Pope Julius II, young Raphael's genius is shown. Within his dramatic compositions we reveal the hidden clues to the powerful Papal world of the early 1500's. Raphael also pays homage to Michelangelo, who spent ten years working in the Sistine Chapel, where we will view his overwhelming masterpieces: the Last Judgement and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. One of the great highlights of the tour, our detailed description will reveal the meaning of the paintings, their symbolism as well as hidden and often bizarre details and describe the elaborate and often tortured undertaking that Michelangelo went through in order to create them.

In the other worldly Basilica of St. Peter your guide will recount the stories of the popes and artists who brought about its existence and reveal the hidden symbolism in its monuments and the wonders of its architecture and decoration. Here you will learn the secrets of Michelangelo's first masterpiece, the Pieta and his last- the great dome. The theatrical Baroque art and architecture will be explained as you take in the culmination of over 120 years of construction and decades of decoration. Witness the symbolic monuments to the Popes and some unlikely others... Mathematics and creativity drove Bernini's elaborate plans both inside and outside the Basilica, full of symbolism and drama: Piazza San Pietro and Colonnade, the Cathedra Petri, the Baldacchino, and the Monument to Alexander the VII. The bodies of the 'Incorruptible' Popes also lay on display in glass coffins, including the body of Pope John XXIII. Not to be missed is the story of the pagan origin of the site, why St. Peter's Basilica is here and how it relates to Nero, its meaning to the Catholic world and the many legends that surround it.

Vatican City Under the Stars

Take a private tour of the Vatican Museums at night. Following the huge success of previous occasions, from Friday 6 May 2011, for the third consecutive year, the long awaited appointment returns with the Vatican Museums evening opening. Until 28 October 2011 the Museums of the Pope will open their doors after sunset from 7 pm to 11 pm. (last admission at 9.30 pm), every Friday for the coming months - except for the month of August.

This exclusive invitation to visit the Museums by night gives us a rare opportunity to see the galleries during the busy season with more calm than during the normal opening hours, and allows us to experience the collections in a different way, with some areas lit by candles, sometimes with music playing, and with the stars above illuminating the courtyards and important collections that house within them.

Vatican City, Fabulous Fountains & Piazzas Full Day

This tour combines the Vatican City Express with the Fabulous Fountains and Piazzas Tour, featuring the "must see" piazzas, fountains, palaces, churches amidst the charming streets of Renaissance and Baroque Rome. Your guide will stroll with you through the heart of Rome to visit Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. You will begin to see the city as a continuous story, one that radiates from the hearts and minds of the greatest Renaissance and Baroque artists, their vision inextricably binding the twin stories of Rome and the Vatican. Your guide will reveal hidden remnants of Ancient Rome along the way showing the bizarre intermingling of architecture in Rome over the millennia. Midday you will stop for a delicious Italian meal in a restaurant selected by your guide for its excellent Roman cuisine. The Vatican City is one of the most amazing places to visit on the planet, no matter what ones personal views on religion are. This tour gives a fascinating in-depth visit to the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica with ample time to appreciate the wealth of sacred and profane history, art, and religion contained within the fortified walls.
With your guide you will explore the Vatican City in all of its splendor with a focus on hidden symbols, secrets, myths and stories along with the poignant great works of art and their history giving you an insider's view that you will never forget.

On to the Vatican Museums where entering the dramatic Courtyard of the Pinecone we are taken back in time as we see the most profound and fascinating works of art from the Ancient Pagan World which inspired the greatest minds in the history of art from Michelangelo and Raphael to Bernini and Canova. In the Hall of Busts marble portraits shock us with their realism and give us a personal glimpse of the ancient Romans themselves. Continuing through the beautiful Belvedere Courtyard, The Animal Rooms, the Hall of the Muses, The Round Room, the Room of the Cross, and the Hall of the Candelabra your guide will bring to life the most prized artworks of ancient Rome including the Laocoon, the Belvedere Torso, the Apollo Belvedere, the giant marble bath, an enormous and complex mosaic and rare colossal sculptures of gods and goddesses- a pagan world all held within the walls of the Vatican City! Two enormous sarcophagi made for Emperor Constantine mark the meeting of Pagan and Christian and twin Egyptian Sphinx sculptures take us back to an Empire which predated the Romans. Poignant masterpieces of ancient sculpture include the Baby Bacchus being carried by a faun, a touching sarcophagus of a young boy and the bizarre and dramatic Diana of Ephesus. Leaving the Pagan World behind, in the Hall of the Tapestries we will see the incredibly detailed giant wall hangings designed by the School of Raphael dramatizing the life of Christ as well as a remarkable trompe-l'oeil ceiling. Then one of the most incredible records of the Papal world- the incomparable Hall of Maps with its elaborate golden ceiling and frescoes reveals itself detailing all of the Papal territories, towns and cities, depictions of battles and fanciful sea monsters- a cross between scientific inquiry and fantasy.

In the small Sobieski Room we see a painting of monks hung by the church for supporting the theory that the earth was round, a giant battle against the Turks and in the Room of the Immaculate Conception frescoes celebrate the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In the sublime Raphael Rooms, the grand apartments of Pope Julius II, young Raphael's genius is shown. Within his dramatic compositions we reveal the hidden clues to the powerful Papal world of the early 1500's. Raphael also pays homage to Michelangelo, who spent ten years working in the Sistine Chapel, where we will view his overwhelming masterpieces: the Last Judgement and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. One of the great highlights of the tour, our detailed description will reveal the meaning of the paintings, their symbolism as well as hidden and often bizarre details and describe the elaborate and often tortured undertaking that Michelangelo went through in order to create them.

In the other worldly Basilica of St. Peter your guide will recount the stories of the popes and artists who brought about its existence and reveal the hidden symbolism in its monuments and the wonders of its architecture and decoration. Here you will learn the secrets of Michelangelo's first masterpiece, the Pieta and his last- the great dome. The theatrical Baroque art and architecture will be explained as you take in the culmination of over 120 years of construction and decades of decoration. Witness the symbolic monuments to the Popes and some unlikely others... Mathematics and creativity drove Bernini's elaborate plans both inside and outside the Basilica, full of symbolism and drama: Piazza San Pietro and Colonnade, the Cathedra Petri, the Baldacchino, and the Monument to Alexander the VII. The bodies of the 'Incorruptible' Popes also lay on display in glass coffins, including the body of Pope John XXIII. Not to be missed is the story of the pagan origin of the site, why St. Peter's Basilica is here and how it relates to Nero, its meaning to the Catholic world and the many legends that surround it.

Vatican City, Fabulous Fountains & Piazzas Full Day photo

Vatican City & Castel St. Angelo Full Day Tour

During this tour we visit the fascinating fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo, otherwise know as the "Papal Pleasure Palace" built over the ancient Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian. Entering the bastion walls of the 15th c. fortress, once inside we will give you an overview of the original mausoleum built by Hadrian in the 2nd c. AD as a tomb for himself and his family and how it was transformed into a military fortress and Palace. As we wind up through the internal spiral of the ancient interior, the elaborate nature of the construction of the site is revealed through its brickwork, mosaics, and air passages. With the transformation into military fortress there is an armory with ancient weapons and even an elevator which was added in the 1500's for the portly Medici pope Leo X! Continuing upward we visit the palace apartments of the popes with their intriguing "grotesque" frescoes (and graffitti!) from the early 1500's in the Room of Apollo, the bedroom of Alexander VI with its erotic paintings, the Treasure Room with its enormous treasure boxes, and the splendid Terrace of the Angel with the best view of St.
Peter's Basilica, as well as the Tiber River with its myriad bridges, the Bridge of Angels featuring Bernini's Colossal Angels, the Spanish Steps, the Coliseum, the Monument to Victor Emanuele II, the Pantheon and the 'Passetto' a secret corridor that lead from the Castel to the Papal Palace in the Vatican! After Castel St. Angelo your guide will take you to an excellent local Roman restaurant in the historic Borgo Saint Angelo where you can sample the delights of Roman traditional cooking and rest your feet.

The Vatican City is one of the most amazing places to visit on the planet, no matter what ones personal views on religion are. This tour gives a fascinating in-depth visit to the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica with ample time to appreciate the wealth of sacred and profane history, art, and religion contained within the fortified walls. With your guide you will explore the Vatican City in all of its splendor with a focus on hidden symbols, secrets, myths and stories along with the poignant great works of art and their history giving you an insider's view that you will never forget.

Our visit starts in the Vatican Museums where entering the dramatic Courtyard of the Pinecone we are taken back in time as we see the most profound and fascinating works of art from the Ancient Pagan World which inspired the greatest minds in the history of art from Michelangelo and Raphael to Bernini and Canova. In the Hall of Busts marble portraits shock us with their realism and give us a personal glimpse of the ancient Romans themselves. Continuing through the beautiful Belvedere Courtyard, The Animal Rooms, the Hall of the Muses, The Round Room, the Room of the Cross, and the Hall of the Candelabra your guide will bring to life the most prized artworks of ancient Rome including the Laocoon, the Belvedere Torso, the Apollo Belvedere, the giant marble bath, an enormous and complex mosaic and rare colossal sculptures of gods and goddesses- a pagan world all held within the walls of the Vatican City! Two enormous sarcophagi made for Emperor Constantine mark the meeting of Pagan and Christian and twin Egyptian Sphinx sculptures take us back to an Empire which predated the Romans. Poignant masterpieces of ancient sculpture include the Baby Bacchus being carried by a faun, a touching sarcophagus of a young boy and the bizarre and dramatic Diana of Ephesus. Leaving the Pagan World behind, in the Hall of the Tapestries we will see the incredibly detailed giant wall hangings designed by the School of Raphael dramatizing the life of Christ as well as a remarkable trompe-l'oeil ceiling. Then one of the most incredible records of the Papal world- the incomparable Hall of Maps with its elaborate golden ceiling and frescoes reveals itself detailing all of the Papal territories, towns and cities, depictions of battles and fanciful sea monsters- a cross between scientific inquiry and fantasy.

In the small Sobieski Room we see a painting of monks hung by the church for supporting the theory that the earth was round, a giant battle against the Turks and in the Room of the Immaculate Conception frescoes celebrate the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In the sublime Raphael Rooms, the grand apartments of Pope Julius II, young Raphael's genius is shown. Within his dramatic compositions we reveal the hidden clues to the powerful Papal world of the early 1500's. Raphael also pays homage to Michelangelo, who spent ten years working in the Sistine Chapel, where we will view his overwhelming masterpieces: the Last Judgement and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. One of the great highlights of the tour, our detailed description will reveal the meaning of the paintings, their symbolism as well as hidden and often bizarre details and describe the elaborate and often tortured undertaking that Michelangelo went through in order to create them.

In the other worldly Basilica of St. Peter your guide will recount the stories of the popes and artists who brought about its existence and reveal the hidden symbolism in its monuments and the wonders of its architecture and decoration. Here you will learn the secrets of Michelangelo's first masterpiece, the Pieta and his last- the great dome. The theatrical Baroque art and architecture will be explained as you take in the culmination of over 120 years of construction and decades of decoration. Witness the symbolic monuments to the Popes and some unlikely others... Mathematics and creativity drove Bernini's elaborate plans both inside and outside the Basilica, full of symbolism and drama: Piazza San Pietro and Colonnade, the Cathedra Petri, the Baldacchino, and the Monument to Alexander the VII. The bodies of the 'Incorruptible' Popes also lay on display in glass coffins, including the body of Pope John XXIII. Not to be missed is the story of the pagan origin of the site, why St. Peter's Basilica is here and how it relates to Nero, its meaning to the Catholic world and the many legends that surround it.

Vatican City & Castel St. Angelo Full Day Tour photo