After being pick up at your hotel in Rome with your guide, you will begin your tour in the Vatican Museum.
A private bilingual guide (English, French and Italian-speaking) will accompany you on this tour.
Stop by the octagonal courtyard which holds some of the greatest statues in the world and then walk through the many halls of the museum to reach the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel for a detailed explanation of the beautiful frescoes in these rooms by some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.
The massive walls of the Sistine Chapel, the main chapel in the Vatican Palace, are covered with frescoes of some finest artists of the 15th and 16th centuries. The 12 paintings on the side walls, by artists including Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Signorelli, show parallel episodes from the life of Christ and Moses. The decoration of the Sistine chapel, the crowning jewel of Vatican museums, was completed by Michelangelo, who added the great altar fresco, the Last Judgment.
Raphael's Rooms are actually re-decorated Pope Julius II's apartments that were built at the beginning of the 16th century and are part of Vatican museums now.
After you exit the Vatican Museums you will stop to admire the world's largest basilica. Walking through St. Peter's you'll see the highlights of the most famous church in the world, and listen to the many anecdotes of popes, saints, and artists. Saint Peter's Square has been the center of Christianity for centuries and the destination of pilgrims.
In AD 64 this area was the site of a Roman Circus used for horse racing. It was here around the same period that Saint Peter was crucified and buried by Nero. Catholic tradition holds that Saint Peter's tomb is below the altar of the basilica. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century.
The tour ends at St Peters Basilica