We’ve been to Rome around 14 times and have visited the Vatican Museums at least five times—most recently in 2023. You might think then that I would give it a pass then. Nope.
The thing about the Vatican Museums is that they are worth 100 visits…or more. I love them. Inside their hallowed walls are millennia of history. Artifacts—pagan and religious—abound within the various museums (yes, there are several). The building itself is a marvel with painted walls and ceilings by Renaissance greats like Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, and many more.
Each visit I see something I never noticed before. And, with a good guide, I hear a story (or stories) that I didn’t know.
I’ve visited without guides before and, if your budget only affords you the opportunity to see the Vatican Museums without a tour—then by all means just go it alone. But if you can afford a tour, I highly recommend one.
My favorite tour company for the Vatican is LivTours. They offer semi-private (six or fewer people) or private tours at reasonable prices. They also offer some Vatican tours that few, if any, other tour companies offer. Having that small group means that you have a really personal experience. You can pose questions easily letting you have a unique experience that feels curated just for you.
We’ve seen the Vatican Museums at most times but we’ve never seen them in the early evening, so for this trip we took the “Vatican at Night” tour. Seeing it later in the day meant that we had an intimate experience in the museums without the crowds.
Like all the other Vatican tours I’ve been on—we were instructed to meet our guide in front of the café across from the entrance. It was there we met our guide Paola. She asked if we had visited before and we explained that we were fortunate enough to have seen the museums several times, so she asked us what she should focus on. We explained that Raphael was my husband’s favorite artist and I said what parts I would like to see again. With that information, Paola took us on an energetic and informative whirlwind of a tour.
We started at the Pinocateca, which I had visited by myself once, but had never been featured on a tour I had been on before. I knew right then that LivTours was going to give us a special experience.
Besides seeing fabulous paintings in the Pinocateca, we saw ancient artifacts from Egypt, Rome, Greece, and other amazing places. We visited courtyards and cool…
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