Coverage / Vatican City

Vatican City

Southern Europe

The world's smallest sovereign state, an enclave of about half a square kilometre within Rome and the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Behind its walls lie Saint Peter's Basilica and Square, the Apostolic Palace and the Vatican Museums, whose galleries end at Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, drawing millions of visitors and pilgrims a year.

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What you can do in Vatican City

Museums & Galleries

Vatican MuseumsJan Feb Mar Jun Jul Sep NovThe Vatican Museums are among the greatest museum complexes on earth, packed into the tiny sovereign territory of Vatican City. The collection grew from the art the popes gathered from the sixteenth century onward and now runs through more than fifty connected galleries, so a visit is a single long walk past classical sculpture like the Laocoon and the Apollo Belvedere, the frescoed Raphael Rooms, the tapestry and map galleries, and Egyptian and Etruscan collections, before ending in the Sistine Chapel beneath Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgment. It is the reason most travellers cross into the Vatican at all, and the scale means a first visit is about choosing a route rather than seeing everything. You can go independently with a timed ticket or with an accredited guide who can pace the galleries and read the Sistine Chapel, where silence is enforced and photography banned. For art on this level in one building, nothing else compares.

Witness / Attend

Papal General AudienceSt. Peter's SquareMar Apr May Jun Sep Oct NovMost Wednesdays that the Pope is in Rome he holds a General Audience, and for a traveller it is the most accessible way to see the head of the Catholic Church in person. From spring to autumn it is held in the open in Saint Peter's Square, under Bernini's colonnade, and in the cold or hot months it moves indoors to the Paul VI Hall. The Pope arrives to circle the square, often in the popemobile, then gives a short catechesis, greets pilgrim groups in several languages and closes with a blessing. It is free: tickets are issued, without charge, by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, and are requested in advance and collected near the Bronze Door. The crowd is a cross-section of the Catholic world, from parish groups to newlyweds, and the setting is one of the great squares of Europe. For anyone in Rome on a Wednesday, believer or not, it is a singular thing to witness.

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Museums
Witness / Attend