What little knowledge I had of Rome before arriving can be credited to Dan Brown. And yes I know it’s fiction, but Angels and Demons was still educational. To build on that education we joined another tour. This was our third for this city, but Rome is worth getting to know properly. Well actually today, we’re not exploring Rome. Or even Italy. We’re off to Vatican City – a separate country. The world’s smallest. It may only been 100 acres and have a population of about 800 people, but when the Pope is one of those 800 you’ve got a bit of clout.
Unfortunately we couldn’t get on a Walks of Italy tour of the Vatican, so this time we were with Dark Rome. We started in the Vatican Museums, 30-minutes before the general public is allowed in.
The collection of pieces in the Vatican Museums is incredible – both in volume and quality. Just as my mind was about to stop absorbing the information and my neck aching from staring at the ceilings we arrived at the Sistine Chapel.
Our guide, Marina, had spoken to us a lot at the beginning of the tour because there are plenty of “shhh” signs in the Chapel. If you miss the signs there are also plenty of guards willing to remind you off the rules. While we were inside there were three calls of “Quiet”. Photos are also banned and the guards were quick to jump on anyone trying to sneak them. It would have been easy to snap a few without being noticed, but I think it’s disrespectful to ignore directions like that.
Now the Sistine Chapel itself. In a word. Underwhelming. Yep, I said it. I just didn’t feel it. Perhaps it’s because I’m not religious so the paintings held little significance for me. Perhaps I was expecting too much. However, Marina pointed out a few little “jokes” Michelangelo hid in the work and I found them amusing.
After the letdown of the Sistine Chapel I wasn’t sure what to expect at St. Peter’s Basilica. We’d be warned of the strict dress codes (no bare shoulders or legs above the knee). Other rules Marina read from the official list included “no strange photos with the monuments”. I can only imagine….
The Basilica really was impressive. It’s huge! Again I was amazed at the detail. The Roman’s do not do anything by halves. Outside we saw two Swiss Guards in their official uniform. Michaelangelo may have been a lot of things, but fashion designer was not one of them.
If you don’t book a tour ahead of time there are plenty of people selling “skip the line” tickets and tours from the street. I can’t speak to their quality though. Marina was an art history major and rattled off information about the works like the alphabet, with some typical Italian theatrics thrown in during the storytelling.
For lunch I took a recommendation from Revealed Rome – a great blog to check out if you’re visiting the city – and went to Fa Bio. It’s a tiny, hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop. In areas like this it’s easy to fall into expensive and tasteless tourist traps. We got fresh-made sandwiches and some juice at a great price and enjoyed them in a nearby piazza.
