Walking in Michelangelo’s Vatican Footsteps Overwhelms the Senses
Days 17-18, 2024 Ultimate Mediterranean
Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 25-26, 2024; Rome, Italy.
Oh, to be Jeff Bezos! Actually, maybe only to have an extra $9,000 laying around.
I suppose it is wrong to have such thoughts of envy – the fourth of the seven deadly sins – while walking through the Vatican. Our small tour group moved slowly through the crowded rooms of the Vatican Museums yesterday, trying not to lose sight of our guide Rosalina.
Her quiet voice came through our wireless headsets, directing us to various statues, tapestries, paintings and tens of thousands of other pieces of art housed here.
She told us that just last week she came to work at 6 a.m. one day to give a private tour to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who paid $9,000 for the privilege to avoid the crowds (cheap if you are worth $230 billion, I guess). Otherwise, you are just a tiny part of the 29,000 tourists here each day. I guess we were lucky to be in the off season.
Despite the crowds, the opportunity to travel through centuries of Western art was inspiring. According to the Vatican’s website, “Art, aside from being a credible witness to the beauty of creation, is also a tool of evangelization … through art – music, architecture, sculpture, painting – the Church explains and interprets the revelation.”
The 20-plus galleries fill a long wing, and we moved through the halls sometimes in large crowds, looking not just around us, but also up.
As we walked from gallery to gallery, admiring lifelike sculptures from centuries ago, Rosalina inspired us to look at the mosaic floors and realize we are walking the same floor that Michelangelo walked during his years of painting the frescos in the Sistine Chapel.
Of course, the Sistine Chapel was the highlight of our tour. All are instructed to be silent while in the chapel, men to remove their hats, and absolutely no photographs or videos. Earlier, Rosalina used displays in one of the courtyards to tell us the history of Michelangelo’s’ four years painting the ceiling and six years painting The Last Judgment on the wall at one end of the chapel.
I found the best vantage point to see the ceiling was at one end of the chapel, which is about 120 by 46 feet. It is dizzying to look up at the famous Creation of Adam from the center of the room. I don’t know why, but I expected the famous scene of the finger-touch between Adam and God to be larger. It is surrounded by dozens of frescos of other figures and stories from the Bible. I suppose we were just there for about 10 minutes – only enough time for me to feel overwhelmed.
Next we toured St. Peter’s Basilica, where we saw Michelangelo’s Pieta, located near the Holy Door, which the pope will open in 2025 for the Jubilee Year. Preparations are underway throughout the Vatican City.
The rain that had threatened all day was falling as we left the basilica, stopping briefly in an official Vatican store where I purchased a tiny nativity scene for my miniature collection.
The tour I chose today focused on the Vatican museums, which I had not seen as my previous visit in 2011 was on a Sunday when they are closed. We had a quiet lunch in a small restaurant with lasagna, salad and panna cotta with chocolate sauce for dessert. I found the meal very average, but later a fellow member of my tour group raved about it. It just goes to show that food taste can be very subjective.
We passed trees turning to autumn gold as we gazed through wet bus windows to see the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill and other landmarks of Rome on our way back to the ship, docked about 50 miles away in the port of Civitavecchia.
With six big port days in a row, I took a break today, our second day docked at Civitavecchia. My planned private tour fell through a few weeks ago. Nothing inspired me enough to trek back to Rome or to window shop in Civitavecchia. I’ll be rested up for Naples tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing your day at the Vatican. Loved it!
Gosh, I’m amazed at the off-season crowds in the Vatican–when I was there in early March 2016 there were comparatively few in the galleries and I remember sitting for more than 20 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. I did have to stand in a line for 15 minutes to enter St. Peter’s Basilica. Maybe it was less crowded because my tickets were for the late afternoon. Unfortunately, I had made the mistake of visiting the Colosseum and Palatine Hill in the morning and was so tired of walking by the time I got to the Vatican.
We were in Rome in 2022 (another HAL cruise – a B2B in fact. Had a private tour of the Vatican (Daniele Your Driver In Rome), including the catacombs. I thought the hallway towards the Sistine Chapel was even more spectacular than the Chapel itself. Maybe it was the neck “crick” from having to look straight up, but the ceiling wasn’t kind of underwhelming….it was dark so hard to see.
What absolutely knocked the socks off this lapsed Episcopalian was St Peters Basilica. When you saw the little indicators of how several of the world’s most famous cathedrals fit inside this holy place, it was hard to even comprehend. The canopy over St Peter’s tomb was what I remember most, and that delicate alabaster window at the end of the sacristy with the dove of the resurrection. To heighten the sense of reverence, there was a mass happening in a side chapel, accompanied by a taped choir….almost unearthly feeling.
Oh…forgot to mention, that on our last day in Rome, our driver took us out to the Appian Way. The stones of the road are basalt (volcanic origin).and we’re just there…all along the road (foot and scooter traffic only). To imagine that we walked in the footsteps of Spartacus on his way to his crucifixion was another “gulp” in the throat.
Amazing how much I get from your posts. We were also with a small group but seemed overwhelmed by the crowd. Also with my husband’s balance issues, all the steps were a challenge.
However our guide made a lunch reservation for us at a pizzeria. We were the only English speakers there. The pizzas were delicious
You almost can’t eat badly in Rome; in fact in all of Italy. However, some of the tourist restaurants closest to the biggest attractions are not quite as good
see Jo’s comment.
Hi Jo, Great narrative and images as always – many thanks. Megan and I have been to Rome separately, MANY years ago, so getting back there together is a bit of a priority. Hopefully the first opportunity will be in in 2026, via the legendary Med cruise, assuming it occurs as per 2024 and 2025 – we are booked on the Volendam from Montreal to NYC in anticipation of a repeat of the 2024 and 2025 program. However, a longer stay in Italy, France and UK are on the cards after that!
I so enjoy your stories!
Dear Jo
I was delighted to know that you got to visit Saint Peter‘s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. When we lived in Rome in the 80s, it was our favorite haunt. The church never fails to inspire all and I never can get enough looking at it! I will be blessed to visit it Again in spring of 2025 when I come off a Viking cruise with my companion Allan it will be exciting to see him, discover it for the first time.
Keep your sense of awe 🫢 Jeanie