Did you know that you can arrange to attend an audience with the Pope and, if you're lucky, be less than 20 feet away from His Holiness? And do this all for free?
Keep in mind that you'll be sharing the experience with 5,000 or so other interested folks and pilgrims, but if visiting the Vatican is in your Roman travel plan, you may want to arrange the experience of a public papal audience. Even if you're not Catholic.
You can plan to spend an entire day experiencing and visiting the Vatican on your Roman journey; exploring the magnificent Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and even climbing St. Peter's Dome, if you don't mind the height and narrow staircases.
We did spend an entire day at the state within a city. Vatican City is a separate state jurisdiction from Rome and from Italy. You won't need to show your passport at the border to enter, as there isn't one, and getting there simply involves either walking or making your way by bus from wherever you are in Rome. There are no Metro stops within easy distance, so wear comfortable walking shoes.
An Early Start
We were advised to arrive for the Papal Audience two hours ahead of the 10:30 AM event start time. That meant leaving our apartment, which was 30 minutes from Rome by train by 7:30 AM. We had already picked up our Audience tickets from the Church of Santa Susanna the day before as required. This Church provides a free ticket service for those interested in attending a Papal Audience, provided you order the tickets ahead of time.
[travellingmom tip: Papal Audiences are held every Wednesday that the Pope is at home at the Vatican. You can obtain free tickets to these audiences for a date that coincides with your visit, provided that you order them ahead of time from the Church of Santa Susanna, the American Church in Rome. Click on the link and follow the instructions to obtain your tickets.]
We made our way to St. Peter's Square and showed our tickets to enter into one of the four large quadrants of seating set up for these audiences. The area was filling up quickly, and we asked one of the Swiss Guards - dressed up in their striking blue, red and yellow uniforms - about our seating options to best see the Pope on his arrival. We followed his instructions to sit as close to the middle of the cross-shaped access as we could get.
The Pope arrives in a small, covered Pope-mobile that drives around and between the seating areas, but not in the same pattern every week. As luck would have it, we had perfect seats to view Pope Benedict as he drove right in front of our seating area, everyone madly cheering and waving as he passed. It was a thrilling experience to be so close!
The Audience that follows the Pope's arrival consists of multi-lingual blessings of everyone present, and of specific national groups and pilgrims from all over the world that have made their way to Rome to visit the Vatican. We were there just days before Easter and it was an incredibly busy time. The Audience lasted for two hours, and the atmosphere was so festive and boisterous it felt like a sporting event. It left a lasting impression on all of us, including the kids.
The Vatican Museums
I've read that it would take ten years to view every item found in the Vatican Museums. They would surely be worth a trip in themselves if you had the interest, but if you're travelling with kids, the odds are high you'll only get one afternoon to absorb all of the magnificent history, art and architecture!
Make the most of that one afternoon and book a guided tour of the Museums. The scope and sheer size of the collections are overwhelming and you really don't want to spend your nose in a guide book reading about the bust of Augustus Ceasar when you could have a real live art-history student telling you all about it instead!
There are a number of excellent tour companies and guides that you can book ahead of time. We pre-booked (and pre-paid) our Vatican tour with Angel Tours Rome, a locally based tour guide service with native English-speaking, highly-trained and licensed guides. We were a small group, and met our guide at a gift shop at the Vatican at the appointed hour and day. By booking with a licensed guide, we were able to bypass the regular line-ups (which were long for a Wednesday) and get right into the tour.
After a brief history of St. Peter's Square, we proceeded directly into the first section of the Museums. We viewed priceless Greek and Roman sculptures, including the incredible 'Laocoon' and many busts and sculptures of the various Roman emperors. From there we continued through open courtyards into a long hall to view huge maps frescoed on the walls of the Gallery of Maps, depicting all of Renaissance Italy. On a personal note, we found the frescoed map which included the small village in northern Italy where my father was born; a moving experience. The Gallery of Tapestries holds intricate 16th century tapestries depicting the life of Jesus Christ. There is one in which the eyes of Christ seem to follow you down the hall as you move. Your kids may be amazed, and a little disturbed, by the experience.
The tour continued into the Sistine Chapel to view all of the magnificent works of Michaelangelo, and learn more about the interesting and curious history of the man himself. (Apparently, he didn't like women, and in his art was prone to including people he didn't like in his artwork in very unflattering poses and positions.) We were able to stay for a long time in the Chapel, before exiting to the final part of the Tour, St. Peter's Basilica.
St. Peter's is the largest Christian Church in the world, according to most estimations. There are many works of art to see, including paintings and sculptures such as the 'Pieta' by Michaelangelo, as well as mummified remains of previous popes. Such curiosities may be of particular interest to your kids if they like the morbidly fascinating things like mine do. The impressive 'baldacchino' by Bernini, is made entirely of bronze and stands below the dome and above the alter. It is a focal point in the church as its sheer size dwarfs everything else around it.
If you're feeling brave, think about climbing up to the viewing area on the Dome of St. Peter's. The stairway is narrow, steep and winding, and at one point you cross the interior of the dome to access more staircases - this can be pretty hair-raising if you're afraid of heights like I am! Luckily, the kids had no problem and practically raced up the stairs. The view of Rome from the roof is spectacular and worth the climb to get there. You can walk all around the Dome and on a clear day view the entire city and seven hills - lots of great photo opportunities!
[travellingmom tip: The Vatican Museums are free to the public on the last Sunday of each month. The line-ups are long, but if you don't mind the crowds, this is the day to rise and shine early!]