How big is Vatican City?
The Vatican City is just one of the many wondrous places that makes Rome such an incredible place to visit. Although this tiny microstate is technically separated from its surrounding city, the pious and non-believers alike can tour this incredible dedication to Catholicism and take in all its ornate splendour!
Whether you’re marvelling at the Sistine Chapel’s inspiring frescoes, heading down below to St. Peter’s tomb in his eponymous basilica, gazing upon some 70,000 masterpieces in the Vatican Museums or meandering through the state’s lush gardens, you don’t have to be pious to enjoy this stunning religious citadel.
And when we say the Vatican is small we mean it, being a tinsy 44 hectares of beautiful squares, luxurious cathedrals and gorgeous gardens, all for your sensory enjoyment!
These awesome experiences await you in the divine Vatican City:
The Sistine Chapel
One should never dream of visiting Rome without crossing the border into the Vatican and heading straight for the Sistine Chapel – the world’s greatest structural testament to Catholicism.
No prizes for guessing why: the Sistine Chapel is adorned with some of history’s greatest masterpieces, with Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgement both intricately painted into its ceilings with unfathomable complexity.
St. Peter’s Basilica
Next, it’s off to the basilica, the place where one of Jesus’ key disciples, St. Peter himself, is buried deep below the cathedral’s ground floor. And whilst the ground floor itself is home to the fabulous Baldachin, a giant archway marking the place of St. Peter’s Tomb below, it’s the underground necropolis that makes touring the basilica so worthwhile.
Eerie-yet-utterly fantastic, wandering through the ancient tombs is something you surely cannot miss when visiting the marvellous Vatican…
The Vatican Museums
The Vatican City has a pretty grand art collection to its name, housing some 70,000 works from legendary artists like da Vinci, Caravaggio, Michelangelo and more, and whilst this leg of the tour will take up a good few hours to experience its sheer beauty, it is something you should really allot some time towards – the magnitude of the collection is something incredible to behold.
The Vatican Gardens
Okay, by now you might be in pious sensory overload, so why not take a breather in the microstate’s stunningly vibrant gardens? You’ve earned it: a day in the Vatican is an almost dizzyingly-wonderful affair!
