Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel without tourists – Rome (Italy) #2
This article should rather be entitled “How we privatized the Sistine Chapel” because we felt so VIP
After giving myself a few days of rest (the famous vacations after the vacations), the glandouille is no longer allowed because time is running out: Rome is huge and there are so many things to visit. The Vatican is obviously the first place to visit among the paying tourist places: we are very excited to go to a “new country” even if it is the smallest one that exists.
note: this is one of the few articles where I advise you to read on computer to better admire the pictures
Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
Competitive spirit ON
After hearing so many horror stories from tourists who went to Rome unprepared, JB books tickets to the Vatican a month in advance. But this is a completely useless precaution in the “next world” that the Covid has provoked because there are no more tourists, nowhere in the world (except us or almost)
We still put all the chances on our side, even if it means playing elbows with other tourists (competition mode ON)
- we visit during the week
- we book our tickets online (it’s mandatory anyway)
- we visit from the opening (at 10 am – from September 14, 2020, it is 9 am)
- we are there 30 minutes before the opening
People are queuing up all over the place for lack of directions until an employee asks everyone to get in line and by chance we are among the top 10 in the queue (while others came in at 9am).
To be as “lucky” as we are, reserve your place at 10:00 am to 9:00 am on weekdays as well and stand right next to the “group entrance” sign. Don’t worry, I’ll make you a separate guide for your visit to the Vatican 😉 When the tourists are back, you can also choose a special 1stentrance (1h30 before the opening to the public) here.
There are several controls: checking that we have booked, security gate, getting our ticket online, taking the audio-guide … Without really doing it on purpose and with our little bags, we don’t need any instructions and we are the first to enter the museum!
An idea enlightens our minds: what if we hurry to enjoy the Sistine Chapel in small groups?
The Sistine Chapel without any tourists
As the chapel is almost at the end of its journey, we make sure that we will be able to go back to all the previous rooms (we have to follow a route but we can do it again as much as we want), we run like crazy taking every possible shortcut to the Sistine Chapel. The museum is so huge that we reach it only after 15 minutes of sprint.
The reward is beyond price: we are ALONE in the chapel for 15 minutes. It’s as if it had been privatized
🙂Enfin… with 3 guards who make sure that no pictures are taken inside (it’s forbidden).
The experience is MAGICAL, you have plenty of time to look at each drawing, the ceiling, the false curtains, the trompe l’oeil, locate Adam’s finger, find Michelangelo’s self-portrait, admire EVERY DRAWING. I put the picture of the Pope alone in the chapel so that you can imagine what we felt.
Adam’s finger is almost in the middle of the ceiling, it is very easy to find.
It took me several minutes before I realized that the huge curtains on the wall were just trompe-l’oeil 😀
On one side, we see drawings relating the life of Moses, on the other, the life of Christ. The (false) sculptures of the popes occupy the upper part of the walls, while the ceiling depicts Genesis.
The Last Judgment, much criticized at the beginning (because of the naked bodies) is Michelangelo’s work and it is the most visible and impressive work, the colors are incredible and the details numerous. Michelangelo used an innovative technique, which consisted of drawing directly on the plaster freshly applied to the wall. In this way, the colors and the drawing become impregnated into the wall. But since the plaster dries relatively quickly, a little plaster must be applied each time.
In the inner courtyard there are several panels with detailed drawings of the Sistine Chapel, so that guides can explain them to tourists BEFORE visiting the Chapel. Do you realize all the drawings to be admired? Well, I’ve had time to look at ALL of them.
To read these panels, click on each photo to zoom in)
From that moment on, we visit the last rooms more slowly, but always alone.
Then we make again the tour of the museum, but this time accompanied by 20 to 50 tourists maximum each time.
And when we go back to the Sistine Chapel for the 2nd time, there are about 30 tourists max (see the picture taken from outside).
The Vatican Museum is composed of several museums. I think that apart from the Louvre, I’ve never visited a museum as huge and as full as this one. The ceilings are all decorated, you don’t know where to look because it’s beautiful everywhere, you have to admire every corner at 360°, from the floor to the ceiling and the small details on the wall. It becomes too much at the end of the 2nd passage.
I put here some hightlights that I liked
Gregorian-Egyptian Museum
Founded in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI, the Egyptian Gregorian Museum has nine rooms. The collection isn’t that incredible, especially since we have already visited at length the Louvre Museum, the Egyptian Museum in Turin and the Cairo Museum.
The inner courtyard
It is too hot to spend time in the courtyard but it is dominated by the huge metal globe. There is also the head of Augustus which is several meters high and Cortile della Pigna (the Pine Tree) which represents a pine cone 4 meters high.
Braccio Nuovo
In Italy, they believe that antique works should be exhibited in a context as close as possible to the original. Hence the construction of Braccio Nuovo, New Wing, to exhibit antique works once confiscated by Napoleon. It is one of my favorite rooms in the Vatican.
Pio-Clementino Museum
What impressed me the most in the museum was the Round Room: covered with a hemispherical vault, imitating Hadrian’s Pantheon, occupied by a large red porphyry basin which, with modern integrations, reaches 13 meters in circumference.
Galleria dei Candelabri
The Gallery takes its name from the gigantic marble candelabra which, combined with the colored marble columns, delimit the six sections of the room. It is here that we noticed many trompe-l’oeil, so well done that we had to zoom in with our cameras to check whether it was a trompe-l’oeil or not.
this is a trompe-l’oeil
Galleria delle Carte Geografiche
Probably my favorite room in the Vatican. I don’t know why it made me think of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, probably because of the gilded elements everywhere.
A masterpiece of the late 16th century, this 120-meter long corridor covering 1200 square meters is filled with maps of all the regions of Italy. At the end of the corridor are two magnificent maps of Italy. The restoration lasted for years and the corridor was reopened in 2016. We crossed it alone, with a guard and it was magical.
The ceiling is extremely loaded, with a lot of details but it is also the most accomplished ceiling in my opinion (apart from the Sistine Chapel of course).
Raphael’s rooms
The four so-called Raphael’s rooms were part of the apartment on the second floor of the Pontifical Palace. Pope Julius II della Rovere (pope from 1503 to 1513) had made it his residence as well as his successors. The pictorial decoration was carried out by Raphael and his pupils between 1508 and 1524.
Apart from the first room (decorated by Raphael’s pupils according to the drawings of their master who died prematurely before the end of the work), the others are rather small and one feels a little cramped, despite the few tourists.
The sequel is a bit boring, especially contemporary art. The Borgia apartments are closed 2/3 (big disappointment for me who loves the Borgias series). The Sistine Chapel follows (not boring at all). The rest is half closed and not so memorable.
From some of the rooms, you can sometimes see Rome, the Vatican, or the Vatican gardens. Don’t hesitate to look out the window when the opportunity arises.
We finish by the souvenir store (closed because there are no more tourists). It is here that there is a small arrow to go around the museum. If you don’t do it here, you will have to go on for another 10 minutes before you can do the tour again.
At the end, we arrive at a courtyard with a very nice little café. JB dies of thirst (in the toilets, the tap water isn’t drinkable) and takes down a bottle of water in 5 seconds. One should have come with a small bottle of water, it is completely authorized in the museum. Only food is forbidden.
We arrive at the locker room, with the Vatican miniatures (I love miniatures). You can also take a tour of the museum from here as well.
This concludes our visit to the Vatican Museum. We take the enormous spiral staircase to get out and go to St. Peter’s Square.
Part 2: Practical Tips
How to get there?
Google Maps is your friend and will be able to show you the best way by public transport to get us there (enter Vatican Museums in Google Maps)
Tickets
It is mandatory to buy the tickets online and choose a visit schedule. Come as soon as the opening as we do to be quiet.
We have opted for Vatican Museums – Admission tickets at 17€/person + 7€ the audioguide in French.
Feel free to walk around the museum several times if you like to walk and if you have time. There are shortcuts everywhere, so look at the signs if you’re in a hurry to get to the Sistine Chapel or Raphael’s apartments, and visit the rest later.
Dress code: we had read that there were certain restrictions regarding the dress code for the Vatican. This only concerns St. Peter’s Basilica, not the museum.
For more tour ideas, or to book your tickets or guided tours, check out the offers of Civitatis and Viator (a Tripadvisor company) in Rome
Visiting the Vatican Museums without the crowds
- When the tourists return to Italy, the Sistine Chapel will be invaded again. In this case, you can opt for a first access ticket, you will enter 30 minutes before the first group visits and 1h30 before the opening to the general public. To buy on Civitatis for 56€
- For a guided tour of the Vatican Museums in French, you can also book it with Civitatis for 45€
Did you like this article? Find all our travel diaries in Italy here and in Rome here
You will find the addresses & places mentioned in this article on the personalized Google Maps I made with my sister for Italy here.
