Meeting with your private guide in Rome city centre and start of the 4 h walking tour of the Vatican. The guided tour will start at the Pine-Cone Courtyard, named for the huge bronze pine-cone set there. The tour will proceed admiring the Belvedere Octagonal Court that houses the statues of Laocoon and Apollo, then the marvellous statues of Belvedere Torso, Jupiter and Hercules, the sarcophagus of Constantine and that of Saint Helena. The itinerary inside the Vatican Museums will continue through the Gallery of the Candelabre, the Gallery of Tapestries and the Gallery of Maps; these galleries lead directly into Raphael Rooms, where you will marvel at the extraordinary frescoes executed by Raphael and his pupil for Julius II’s Apartments. You will then pass into the Sistine Chapel, worldwide famous for the Michelangelo’s breathtaking ceiling and Last Judgement. The tour will end inside St.Peter’s Basilica, the world’s largest Christian place of worship, where you will see Michelangelo’s extraordinary statue of Pietà, Bernini’s bronze Baldacchino (canopy), and the throne of Saint Peter and crypts where many Popes are buried. NOTE: Access to the Vatican Museums and St.Peter’s Basilica is permitted only to visitors in appropriate attire.
End of the service. For those who wish, a lunch in a typical Rome restaurant can be organized: you will taste the best dishes of the Italian tradition and discover the characteristic features of its cuisine.