With our Private Tour of the Vatican with Restricted Areas you won’t only hit St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Museums. A special access will be granted to you to areas usually closed to the public: the Niccoline Chapel, Bramante Staircase.
If you’d like to visit the Vatican without missing any of its treasures, our Private Tour of the Vatican with Restricted Areas is the best option: 5 hours with the best guides, to visit the Sistine Chapel, all the Museums including the restricted areas, and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Everybody goes inside the Sistine Chapel, the Basilica and the Vatican Museums… but Journeys to Italy’s customers deserve more than that! Very few people know the Vatican Museums host some restricted areas, usually closed to the general public, containing amazing examples of art and architecture: with our tour you will see Bramante Staircase, Niccoline Chapel, a once in a lifetime experience you will never forget!
Itinerary: meet your private guide in front of the entrance of the Vatican Museums and let your adventure begin! The first steps in the tour will be two of the restricted areas of the Vatican, the Bramante Staircase and to the Niccoline Chapel, usually closed to the public and a visit to the other areas of the Museums, including the stunning Raphael Rooms.
The Niccoline Chapel took its name from Pope Nicholas V, who decided to have it built and use it for its private prayers. Your guide will point out at the beautiful frescoes by Fra Angelico and his assistants, depicting various religious subjects, like two of the earliest Christian martyrs; Episodes from the Life of St. Stephen and scenes from the life of St. Laurence. raise your gaze and admire the stunning vault painted blue, decorated with stars, and figures of the Four Evangelists in the corners.
You will access to the stunning Bramante Staircase: the DNA would only be discovered centuries later, but the genius architect from Tuscany designed a double-helix shaped staircase, which received unanimous applause by Bramante’s contemporaries. Apart from being beautiful, the staircase also had some practical purposes: not only was it a privileged way to access street level from the Papal apartments, but it also served as a path to let horses and mules carry big items back and forth from the Papal Palaces.
After seeing the special areas your tour will procede with the normal itinerary, i.e. with Michelangelo’s masterpiece Sistine Chapel. Thanks to a special passageway you will also be able to enter St Peter’s Basilica without having to go out from the Museums and queue up again in the Square: let your guide share with you all the secrets of the most important Church in the world, pointing out the art and architecture that enrich the massive Church.
