Vatican City · VA

Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums are not a single building but a city of art within Vatican City: a labyrinth of palaces, courtyards and galleries holding tens of thousands of works gathered by the popes over five centuries, all on one long route that builds toward a single overwhelming finale—the Sistine Chapel. Here you walk beneath Michelangelo's ceiling, through Raphael's frescoes, down a 120-metre corridor of painted maps of Italy, and past some of the most celebrated statues of antiquity. For most first-time visitors it is the high point of any trip to Rome, and it rewards planning: the lines can be long, the complex is genuinely huge, and the experience is far richer when you know which rooms deserve your lingering and which to pass briskly. Book ahead, wear comfortable shoes and respectful clothing, and give yourself at least half a day.