This post will continue on with our 11-day Italy tour with the SmarTours company. In today’s update I will cover the short trip from our Rome hotel to the Vatican City and our tour through the courtyards and buildings. Want to see what it looks like in this Catholic shrine? Was the Pope at the meet and greet? Read on and of course there are a few photos!
Vatican Background
Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy, is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It’s home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture. Its Vatican Museums house ancient Roman sculptures such as the famed “Laocoön and His Sons” as well as Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling.
Vatican City is a landlocked independent country, city-state, microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, With an area of 121 acres and a 2019 population of about 453, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and population. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an ecclesiastical state ruled by the Pope who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church.
After the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) the popes have mainly resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere. The Vatican is also a metonym for the Holy See.
Vatican City contains religious and cultural sites such as St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the world’s most famous paintings and sculptures. The unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by donations from the faithful, by the sale of postage stamps and souvenirs, fees for admission to museums, and sales of publications. Vatican City has no taxes and items are duty-free.
Tickets and Entrance
The $22 advance sale tickets provided by the tour company got us to skip the long lines, but we soon found that we were herded into packed crowds that were hard to imagine even in the post Covid world.
The crowds were heavy most everywhere in Italy and the Vatican was the most extreme. We were packed into the place like sardines and you have to wonder why that was since all tickets were timed entry. Oh well, when in Rome…
It was still quite a thrill to see all the valuable art work and statues throughout the halls and museum. We could walk through the Sistine Chapel and marvel at Michelangelo’s ceiling paintings, but we could not photo. It was very crowded in this room.
Photos
Waiting for our “entry time” packed into a holding room 
Our expert tour guide 
courtyard 
A nicely carved coffin for a pope. 
The art work was incredible. All the walls and ceilings 
Domus Aurea bathtub 
Fantastic wood carving. Think this was a coffin 
And here we are! With tour guide headsets 
St Peter’s square below:
The Pope’s residence 
This is the balcony that the pope speaks from. When he does
Then back inside for more tours
This is the Pieta by Michelangelo and one of his most famous works and one of the only signed by him. 
Finally a room large enough to not be crammed.
The glass coffin below holds the body of Pope John XXIII. Eerily preserved and not embalmed. His coffin was sealed with lead to keep all oxygen out. He died in 1963.
St. Peter’s Baldachin is a large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy, technically called a ciborium or baldachin, over the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica 
Stairs down to the basement crypts 
The Swiss Guards who are responsible for the Pope’s safety 
Bob, one of our group, must not have looked at the sign above him. Or maybe he did! 
Randy, a lady in our group, wrote and read a limerick about our group at dinner that night. Very nice
Wrap Up
Thanks for following along! Next up in our Italy tour is a move to Sorrento (south Italy) and a long stop at Pompeii. Take care and God Bless.
I am soo glad we paid extra for the private 7:30am Vatican tour! Our guide was well known with the guards and we were escorted through a private side entrance. It was an amazing experience to tour the Vatican with only about 30 other people in each room. By the time we got through the entire tour, we saw the lines really backed up to get into St Peter’s. What a memorable Rome experience!
Yours sounds like a great tour! I would have gladly paid the extra to avoid the crazy crowds. But, Rome was a very memorable experience. Julie, I was sorry to see that you guys have ended your blogging days. I’m now following your Facebook account to keep up with y’all. Thanks for the note!
Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a great tour.
Yes, it was a good tour, but too crowded. Maybe during the winter the crowds would be more manageable. 🙂