The Vatican City
Allen and I in front of St. Peter’s Basilica
When in Rome make sure you spend a day in The Vatican City. On our honeymoon Allen and I visited Rome for a week and made sure that we spent a day in The Vatican City. When you start to plan your visit there are some important things that you will need to know before you go. This includes what to pack to wear on your visit, if you plan to take a guided tour that day and how to get there are just a few.
A Swiss guard on duty while we visited.
When doing our research on The Vatican City we used The Tour Guy. It is a great website that has all sorts of resources for multiple different countries. When you select Rome on the website it will change the page to The Roman Guy and it will break everything down that you need to know before your visit to Rome.
But first things first, you're planning a trip to Rome! That is so exciting and I know that you can’t wait to visit and see a beautiful country!
View looking outside while on our tour inside the Vatican Museums!
So let’s start with a little bit of basic information about The Vatican City. The Vatican City is the smallest independent country in the world. When you arrive in Rome and you are in the car to your hotel or home you will pass part of The Vatican City and it will be surrounded by a large stone wall. This is a 39 foot tall wall that was built in AD 846 to protect St. Peter’s Basilica however, the wall does not surround the entire city.
The 39 foot wall that surrounds The Vatican City from the outside while we rode in our cab.
The city covers just over 100 acres and as of 2020 the population is 801 people. And I know you're asking yourself who lives inside The Vatican City and who is allowed to live there. Of course the Pope lives within the Vatican Palace. Residence within the city is not considered by birth as there is actually no hospital within the city, residency is considered by their work or office. Cardinals, members of the clergy, guards and nuns are all residents. Other residence include people that work directly for the church.
Our outfits for our visit to The Vatican City. Our knees and shoulders were covered. We also chose to wear closed toed shoes as we felt they were more appropriate for the day.
First thing starts before you even leave on your trip. When you visit the city you need to be dressed appropriately. This means no bare shoulders, or short skirts/ dresses. All are welcome to visit the city regardless of their beliefs but being respectful of the dress rules, I feel is important and respectful of your surroundings. When Allen and I visited he wore jeans, loafers and a button down linen shirt. I wore jeans, closed toed flats, and a three quarter length shirt. And when we visited we went in June so it was very hot especially being fully covered but with being inside for the majority of our visit it was not too bad. If you choose to visit like we did in the summer you could also use a scarf as a shoulder covering if you are a woman to cover your shoulders if you have a dress or tank top on. I will say there were some people there that were not covered as they should be and my hopes when I saw this was that they just did not have their covering on their shoulders as I saw this mostly outside. However, it is important to understand that if you do not follow the dress restrictions for the city the guards can deny you entry to the city and the museums.
Going through security to enter The Vatican City.
Ok, you have learned a little about the city prior to your visit and you have the appropriate clothing packed in your suitcase now what? I would suggest booking a guided tour for your visit. There is a lot to see while you are there and you will definitely get the most of your visit with a guide that knows everything to show you. Like I mentioned before we used The Roman Guy for our research on this trip. We also booked our guided tour through them and it was a great experience! (Don’t worry I have a link to their website at the bottom of this post for you!) Also be on the look out at the bottom of this blog post I am going to share with y’all the information that they shared with us about our visit. This information shared with us was a detailed description on where to meet. Including a map location and a picture of what that location looked like for when we arrived. They told us what we should and should not have with us on our visit. This included sunscreen, water bottle and hat if its the warmer months. Side note, it does say on the Vatican Museum website that hats are prohibited. I did wear one that day initially however once we were there I took it off and hooked it to my bag. So i’m not sure why they put that note in there but probably best to skip packing the hat that day. On a group visit like we booked they could not accommodate baby strollers or wheelchairs. They also tell you that depending on the size of the group they will provide you with a headphone set so you can hear your tour guide.
Headphones provided for us on our tour of The Vatican City. It has one earbud and they tell you the channel to tune to for your guide.
The crowds were so big and with these head phones you could hear everything the guide was saying even if she was a few feet in front of you which was amazing. They also explain that there are some things out of their control that may change your tour that day and if that happened then they will explain why you could not visit that section of your tour and take you to an extra site or gallery. They also tell you that on Wednesdays you will be unable to visit St. Peter’s Basilica due to an audience blessing being held there. I would suggest planning you trip on a day other than Wednesday because you will want to see St. Peter’s Basilica.
Just one amazing ceiling you will see on your visit!
There are a few things I want to dive a little bit deeper in with you on our visit. So I have broken up into more detail a few points below!
Arrival and movement of the day
When we arrived it was very early. We had to be at our meeting point at 7:30am and we had about a 30 minute taxi ride to get there. Upon arrival there was at least 100 people in this area all meeting for guided tours inside the city. They were all there for different tour groups, we found the flag that said The Roman Guy and met our group. There were actually multiple tours for The Roman Guy that day. We then received our ear phones for the tour and waited to enter. Once it was time we all started in and we had to go through security much like the airport going through a metal detector. Now, yes The Vatican City is its own country but you do not have to show your passport to enter meaning you will not get a Vatican stamp. (Sad I know I was excited first thinking I would have that in my passport book!) There are no boarder patrols and it honestly doesn’t feel like you have technically entered a new country. The day will be a long one full of walking and learning so best tip is to keep up best you can and take in as much as you can! And take lots of pictures where you are allowed to as later when you look back on them it will be like looking for the first time as you truly see so much that day!
The Museums and Sistine Chapel
There are 54 museums that make up the Vatican Museums. Now will you see them all, no, but what we saw that day was unbelievable. One of these museums that you will visit is the Sistine Chapel. This is something that I have no words for and I also have no pictures to share with you. When you proceed to the Sistine Chapel you see a sign pointing you in the correct direction go down some steps and a hallway and turn into a doorway and then all of a sudden you are inside.
Sign pointing you to the entrance of the Sistine Chapel.
Before we entered our guide told us that we would spend a certain amount of time inside and when that time was up we would all exit and proceed on our tour. So once we entered Allen and I went and sat around the edge of the wall in silence and just took everything in. It was a lot smaller than I imagined and there was lot of people inside. Once you have entered you are to be quiet and respectful of others around you as this is a place of peace and prayer. You are also not allowed to take photographs while inside as well. Now, when we went this was not being respected. There were people sneaking and taking pictures which was very disrespectful and talking rather loud. It honestly made for the first part of the visit not as special because this was happening. However, a few minutes went by when a priest came into the room offering people confession. Before he started he very loudly and very demanding of his presence told the room that this was a place of prayer and respect and that everyone should be quiet. I was so glad that he did that and people then respected the space we were in. Could I have taken a picture while we were in there, sure. It would not have been hard to open my iPhone and take a picture of the ceiling but for me it felt wrong to do so as that was not allowed. While inside it was a time of reflection and peace and a time to just be in the moment with no influence of the outside world.
Popemobile that Pope John Paul II was shot 2 times in 1981. There is a video that plays above this mobile that tells you more about that day.
The Popemobile room
This was one of Allens favorite parts of our visit. This room showed you past Popemobile’s throughout the years and how they changed was crazy. It went from a horse drawn carriage painted in gold leaf, to the Popemobile that Pope John Paul II was shot at twice in, to the Popemobile that we now know with the bulletproof glass walls and roof to keep The Pope safe. Something cool that happened on our visit was that the horse drawn carriage painted in gold was being worked on while we visited. Our tour guide had been giving this tour for years and said that she had never seen anyone inside doing maintenance on it. She was so excited and taken back by what she was seeing that she told our group to look around and she was going to go speak to the worker as she was mind blown and so excited!
Worker inside the gold painted horse drawn Pope carriage performing maintenance for upkeep.
St. Peters Basilica
In the picture above where I showed you Allen and I’s outfits for our visit to the city we were standing in front of The Holy Door. This door remains shut, open only for a jubilee year. Meaning that passing through The Holy Door means you are passing into the presence of God. “I am the Gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved”. Walking through The Holy Door on the year of a jubilee represents when Jesus spoke this. The Papal altar when you enter is larger than I can even describe to you. It’s absolutely beautiful to look at and the size of it is really indescribable.
Visitors taking pictures of the Papal Altar.
In this picture look at the tops of peoples heads and where they stand compared to the shear size of this altar. It is incredible the size it has. The other cool thing inside the Basilica is the Papal tombs that are under ground. This is another place that pictures are not prohibited. There are 90 tombs underground of past Popes and it’s very surreal to be witness to.
Entrance to go down the steps into the tombs. The sign on the wall here say steps down to Vatican Grottoes.
The last place we visited on our tour that day was St. Peter’s Basilica and after that we were able to do whatever we wanted from there. We visited the post office in the city and I sent my grandma and grandpa a letter which was pretty cool. We also went and ate lunch after we left the museums. There was a restaurant that we stopped at and had a pizza, a coke and then gelato. It truly was an amazing day and if we ever have the pleasure of going back to Rome we will definitely visit again as I know we will see things different next time and the beauty is more than one visit can handle! We hope you enjoyed and learned a little so your planning and visit to The Vatican City can be anything but regular!
Below are the confirmation emails that we received after booking our guided tour through The Roman Guy. If told us where to meet and important things we needed to know before our visit.
Websites that will be helpful for research when planning your trip to The Vatican City.
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy
https://www.vaticanmuseumsrome.com/