The first church was designed and built in 324 AD by Emperor Constantine, however, the walls enclosing the Vatican were not underway until during Leo IV's time in honor of Saint Peter, which began in 847 and was completed in 855. After this time, the Vatican Center was known as the spiritual center of Medieval and Renaissance Rome. Today, the Vatican City is the world's smallest fully independent nation state in the entire world. Vatican City is home within the city limits of Rome with the walls marking three sides of the Vatican and Saint Peters Square as the only entrance on the southeast.
In Vatican City, you will find the world's most famous and magnificent works of art home in the Vatican Museums. At Vatican Private Visit, we offer private tours so you can embrace all the beauty that the Vatican City has to offer without standing in the long lines and being in a crowd of other tourists.
With our private guided tour, you will stroll through various museums and palaces with world-renowned masterpieces throughout Vatican City. As you walk through the entrance at Saint Peter's Square, you will travel back in time as you view the ancient architectural structures. Another step back into time will be when you begin strolling through the Vatican Museums and behold the masterpieces of such famous artists as Michelangelo and Raphael.
The highlights in the Vatican City include Vatican Museums home to the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, the Gregorian Etruscan Museum, the Greek and Roman Antiquities, the Pio Christian Museum, the Pinacoteca, the Missionary-Ethnological Museum, the Gregorian Profane Museum, and the Vatican Historical Museum, each one holding treasures beyond your imaginations such as tapestries, ceramics, and miniature mosaics. Other wonderful places you will be able to visit while in the Vatican City include the Belvedere Palace, the Apartment of St. Pius V, the Room on the Immaculate Conception, the four rooms painted by Raphael, and of course the Sistine Chapel.