You meet with your guide at the entrance to the museums and bypassing the long queues of tourists you can deposit your belongings and take a comfort break in the Vatican cloakrooms.  It is then straight to the first port of call on this marvelous tour. You visit the rooms where ancient Roman and Greek statues are displayed.  When the Popes ruled all of Central Italy artworks collected from the excavations in the city of Rom were all bought to the Vatican.  Your guide has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything in the museums and will tell you about the masterpieces; the Belvedere Apollo, the Torso, the busts of Claudius and Hadrian and the sarcophagi of Helen and Constance, mother and daughter of he Emperor. Constantine.  You visit the Room of Animals and the Gallery of Candelabra, stepping over ancient mosaics and coming face to face with the statues of Diana of Ephesus, the Muses and many famous Greek philosophers. Then it is then on the  Gallery of Tapestries and the Gallery of Maps before you enter the Sobiesky Room with its vast canvas, the largest in the Vatican.  You will then see Michelangelo’s famous Parnassus and School of Athens in the rooms the artist painted for Pope Julius II.

Of all the Vatican’s famous treasurers none can compare with the Sistine Chapel, the most visited site in Italy.  Learn about Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, the Creation of Adam and the Genesis as well as the frescoes painted by Botticelli, Perugino and other Renaissance Master, including the Stories of Moses and Jesus.   You guide has fascinating anecdotes and secrets to tell you about these magnificent artworks.  The chapel is not just an artistic delight; it is still in use today, hosting the conclave to elect a new Pope.