Vatican

For my first free weekend in Italy, A.J., Joe, Rachel, and I went to Rome. Rome is a giant city compared to Florence, complete with a subway system to get everywhere, unlike Florence where just about everything is a walk able distance. On Saturday, we took the subway to Vatican City for a tour of the Vatican Museum. Since this was the day President Bush was meeting with the Pope, we knew going in that it would be a tough day getting into the Vatican due to the heightened security. It took us about 2 or 3 hours to get into the walled city, waiting patiently in scorching heat. Joe ate twice to give you an idea of how long it was.

It was worth every moment spent waiting and every penny for the tour guide and entrance fee. There is no comparison to the Vatican Museum in terms of the quantity and quality of brilliant artwork. The place is filled with sculptures, paintings, and artifacts from all over the world. It was definitely great to have the tour guide there because I was able to learn about the art instead of just looking at it and saying “Wow that is incredible.” Anyways, towards the end of the tour we get to the crowned jewel of the place, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Despite it being a masterpiece and a place I was in awe of for the twenty minutes I was in there, I thought it was a little overrated. Everything else in the museum is a masterpiece on par with the Sistine Chapel, but that is the only thing that people talk about.

After the Sistine Chapel we go through the rest of the museum and finally come to St. Peter’s Basilica. The basilica was filled with sculptures of all the popes that have come and gone along with a few more mummified corpses. Each pope would pick a great artist of their generation to make a sculpture encompassing who that pope was. These sculptures would be unveiled after the pope has passed and are placed in St. Peter’s.

Overall I would have to say that the Vatican Museum is the home of some of the most brilliant artwork ever created. I was glad that I came down to Rome a day before the rest of the class because I would regret coming to Rome but not seeing the Vatican.