Rome in a Day: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & Colosseum

Highlights

• Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel
• Colosseum Tour
• Roman Forum & Palatine Hill

What's included

Itinerary

1. 1

   Vatican Museums

   2h 30min

   This museum houses a large collection of artifacts from Ancient Egypt and also many Egyptian works of Roman production in nine rooms. The Carlo Grassi Collection of bronzes is part of the collection. Such material includes papyruses, sarcophagi, mummies, sculptures and reproductions of the Book of the Dead

2. 2

   Sistine Chapel

   30min

   The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna (Great Chapel), the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and 1481. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today, it is the site of the papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescoes that decorate the interior, most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment, both by Michelangelo.

3. 3

   Stop 3

   3h

   The Colosseum is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world, despite its age. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under his successor and heir, Titus further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian. The three emperors who were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavius).

4. 4

   Roman Forum

   20min

   The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum (Italian: Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum. For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million or more sightseers yearly.

5. 5

   Palatine Hill

   20min

   The Palatine Hill, which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire. The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites. Imperial palaces were built there, starting with Augustus. Before imperial times the hill was mostly occupied by the houses of the rich. The hill originally had two summits separated by a depression; the highest part was called Palatium and the other Germalus. Using the Forma Urbis its perimeter enclosed 63 acres; while the Regionary Catalogues of the 4th century enclose 131 acres

Before you go

Location