Visiting Vatican City

When I visited St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on my first full day in Italy, I was convinced I would never set foot in a building more beautiful in my entire life. And my feet were bleeding.

It’s kind of a given that you should wear comfortable shoes when you’re traveling to a city where you know you’ll be doing a lot of walking. I brought three pairs of shoes for a six night trip, which some may consider excessive, but after that day exploring the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica, I was wearing exclusively my most supportive, comfortable sneakers for the rest of the trip. The funny part is, the other two pairs of shoes I brought were sneakers too! 

But after a day on my feet seeing some of the most beautiful art in the world, I found out the hard way that you need to be more picky about your footwear than I was. This is my advice to you: wear shoes that have already proven their loyalty to you. Wear the shoes that you’ve worn through hard work-days and active trips to theme parks. Wear the shoes that will never betray you, because they’ve formed to your feet over months of wear. Don’t wear the cute pink ones.

On a cultural note, I was told that Europeans hardly ever wear tennis shoes, and that I’d probably see mostly boots and dress shoes on the streets of Rome in November. Well, I don’t know the last time that person had been to Rome, but they were straight up wrong, and I’m glad I didn’t listen to them. Some of the people I saw were even wearing some of the same shoes I had packed with me. Sneakers galore. I even saw a pair of high-top Stan Smiths that I’m still trying to find out where I can buy (if you know, please leave me comment). I did notice, though, that Rome is a pretty fashion-minded city when it comes to what its people are wearing. If you’re headed to Rome, pack stylish yet trusted sneakers.

Luckily for my slowly shredding feet, movement throughout the Vatican Museums was slow, especially the closer we got to the Sistine Chapel. When I was researching the Vatican Museums, I was a bit confused on what to expect. Why was there only one pass for multiple museums? Why did no one call the museums by specific names? Well, it’s because it’s really more like one museum, and the Sistine Chapel is a part of it. I’m not sure why it’s called the Vatican Museums in plural, but for clarity’s sake, consider it more as the Vatican exhibits all in one building. And the Sistine Chapel is the finale. We got skip-the-line passes, which I highly recommend, because there was a line wrapping around the building to get in, and we didn’t have to wait in any line at all. We just walked right in.

It seemed like every inch of the Vatican Museums was covered in art. In fact, I heard that if you spent just one minute looking at every piece of art in the Vatican Museums, it would take you 80 days. The walls were covered, the ceilings were covered, the floor and architecture was artistic and beautiful. And it was all funneling the crowd closer to the Sistine Chapel. Almost literally funneling. By the time we got to the hallways preceding the chapel, we were shoulder to shoulder with other tourists, inching our way through, which you can see in the photo to the left. It was hard to even appreciate the art that occupied that hall, because there were so many people, you couldn’t see a whole painting at once, unless you were admiring the works on the ceiling.

Now, there’s no way for me to adequately describe to you the beauty of the Sistine Chapel (or St. Peter’s Basilica, which we saw next), but it really was just breathtaking. No photos were allowed, and that was strictly enforced by guards, and silence was expected. It was just a room packed with people staring up at the ceiling. What was overwhelming to me was that I was staring at masterpieces. Original masterpieces that I’d seen in text books and on the internet. And Michelangelo's “The Creation of Adam” was in the middle of it all. People frequently say that upon seeing the Mona Lisa, they expected it to be bigger. That’s how I felt about “The Creation of Adam.” This iconic piece of art was among its peers on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Because St. Peter’s Basilica has free entrance for everyone, there’s no way to buy skip-the-line passes for that one. Everyone waits in line, unless you’re on a guided tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. The line pretty much wrapped around the city, but since we dedicated a whole day to the Vatican, this wasn’t a problem for us. I thought the line would be due to fire-codes or space in the building, but when I walked in, I realized just how enormous it was. The line hadn’t been for lack of space, it had been for the security check. The photo below can give you an idea of that line. The guy on the right was the person in front of us, as I’m standing in line taking the photo, and the line wraps around, sticking closely to where the columns line up.

Under the dome in St. Peter's Basilica

Like I said before, I assessed the Basilica as the most beautiful building I had ever set foot inside. And even as I sit here writing, having seen several more stunning churches in Rome, that still might be the case. I don’t know that any building will ever top it, but I’ll try my best to find out.