Vatican City Private Day Tour

Tour Description

This is a private Rome tour for those who have one day and desire to see some of the icons of Rome. It is impossible to see all of the best sites of Rome in just one day. That is, if you want to have a meaningful visit. So, this private Rome tour is for you if the Vatican is your primary goal and you want some of the other sites included to make the visit complete. Certainly, having a proper guided tour of the Vatican, Pantheon and Piazza Navona is a very good start to having seen the highlights of Rome in a memorable way.

We will begin our tour with the Vatican Museum. Your private,licensed Rome tour guide will have reservations
so you will enter the museum through a privileged entrance skipping the line.

The tour will include the collection's highlights and the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's frescoes. The Vatican Museum houses priceless works of art including the Sistine Chapel, those in the Raphael Rooms and the Etruscan Museum.

The Sistine Chapel is most famous for its architecture and decoration. Artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Botticelli contributed their talents to this Chapel. The chapel is named after Pope Sixtus IV, (whose tomb is in Santa Maria Maggiore) and today serves as a place where new Popes are selected.

Our morning tour of the Vatican will end after a visit to the largest church in the world, St Peter's Basilica.

At 13:00 we will break for lunch at a local restaurant or pizzeria.

Continuing on at 14:30, we will visit the Pantheon, which was a place of worship
both for pagans and Christians for the last 1800 years.

Pantheon is Greek for "temple", which is entirely fitting because
it was dedicated to all the gods of Ancient Rome. Currently, the Pantheon serves as a tomb for great artists, composers, and architects, such as Raphael, Corelli, and Peruzzi along with two kings of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I.

We will also visit the Piazza Navona and view the famous Four River Fountain by Bernini. This fountain was commissioned by Pope Innocent X and designed by Bernini. The Four Rivers represented are the Danube, the Ganges River, the Nile, and the Rio della Plata. Each fountain personifies a then-known continent. The Piazza Navona is home to the Church of St. Agnes. This church was built to honor a young girl who was murdered on the orders of Diocletian for professing her faith. (visit our blog on Facebook for more on this interesting story)

It is true that Borromini, the designer of the Church of St. Agnes, and Bernini, the designer
of the Four Rivers Fountain were intense rivals. It is a common story , but untrue, that one of the figures on Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain has his forearm covering his eyes so he doesn't have to look at the creation of the
rival, Borromini. In fact, the Four Rivers Fountain was constructed before the Church of St. Agnes.

Notes

Guide can meet your party at your hotel or at the Vatican.
The price per person decreases as the number in your party increases. 2 person minimum.

Space is limited to 12 participants! This ensures personal interaction with your tour guide.

We will happily organize tours for parties which are larger than 12 persons. Just ask.

In order to skip the line at the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basilica, we will need your
full name to pass on to the Vatican office.