Vaticani (Vatican Museum and St Peters Basilica), 4. 27.10

When people ask us to describe Vatican City, and they always do, we are at a loss. It is like nowhere we have ever been, the beauty so richly layered that we cannot see it all, and that is a pity. It is the most magnificent and smallest country in the world, with its own postage stamps, a sub country of sorts with its own security force who were vigilant and present.

This is the only place in our travels where we hired a formal tour, knowing as we do how time-consuming gaping at the historical relics can be and not wanting to miss the really good stuff. The bus completely filled the street as it picked us up at the curb and we were escorted somewhere on the back side of Vatican Square just a few miles away.

I was so disappointed! Last time we entered right through the Portico and were filled with the wonder of the Bernini statues and columns that rim the square and the obelisk from Egypt brought here by Caligula with the Basilica di San Pietro as a backdrop.

Security was tight and the museum was packed but the advantage of tours other than highlighting the main things to see, is being able to cut to the front of the line. (The Colosseum tour saved us a two hour wait.)

We started in the Museum, which is part of the Papal Palace and in a building started for this purpose in 1179 and finished in 1522. It houses an astonishing variety of art that chronicles the development and celebration of art, religion, education and the trappings of wealth and power that was Rome as it rose to a world power, through the many emperors who inevitably fell to the excesses of Paganism.

A grand hallway took us past entire rooms devoted to Botticelli (yes, Venus was there) and Di Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rafael and hundreds of others. And one hall entirely devoted to hand painted maps of the world. Although we had plans to see the Uffizi in Florence, we were not planning to see other key museums such as the Accademia in Florence or the National Museum in London. We appreciated the Vatican Museum's thorough and impressive diversity that ranks equal to any museum anywhere in the world.

Once through, we moved on to St Peters Basilica which is the crowning glory of Vatican City and the largest church in the world. We stood near the altar built over the spot where St. Peter was crucified and is entombed and surrounded by 99 lamps in the catacombs below. Constantine built the first basilica here in 324AD on this sacret spot. No words can adequately describe the power and scale of this place. It is like seeing a Brontosaurus up close.

The Basilica as it stands was the re-design of Michaelangelo which he undertook when he was nearly 70 years old. His expertise in architecture was astonishing, although he did not live long enough to artistically contribute much inside, as was the original plan. The church protects the most elaborate mosaic replicas of famous paintings removed due to moisture condensation and mold issues.

From St.Peters it stretches to the right and links the Papal Palace with the Sistine Chapel and the church. The church easily accommodates 60,000 people dwarfed by the soaring 450 ft ceilings. And every square inch of it, every column and fresco, ceiling, sculpture and painting is devoted to the Glory of God. 

It is The Pieta I have come to see, and we found that in the first chapel in the south aisle, behind protective glass. When I saw it last, it was viewable in the open, like Moses. The Pieta is a classical piece for its balance of Renaissance beauty and naturalism. The Holy Mother tenderly cradles her slain son with the most profound expression of love and sadness, and looks as though she will rise any moment. Imagine too that Michaelangelo began this work when he was just 24 years old and it is the only signed sculpture.

It is too dense to go into the details of all the magnificent things we saw, but there was a bronze canopy over one of the 44 altars that took three generations to complete. Golden olive branches   encircle it and this altar is only used by the Pope to celebrate Mass. Just beyond is a beautiful Bernini sculpture, a throne of marble that is believed to encase some of the remaining chair that Saint Peter used in his ministries.  In every nook and cranny there are centuries of fantastic and beautiful works of art, even down to its italian marble floors.

Under one of the great supporting pillars is the entrance to the Vatican grottoes that entomb emperors and popes, and you travel up an elevator and a steep flight of 330 stairs, to the topmost point of St Peters, with an unparalleled view of Rome. But our tour was headed for the Sistine Chapel and so we lingered for a prayer of healing and peace for our family and friends and lit candles in their honor and remembrances for my mother and dad and Randy's brothers and mom before we pressed on.