Rome: Papal Audience with Pope Leo XIV & St. Peter's Square Tour

Our guide did an amazing job of getting hs to the audience early enough to get a fantastic seat for the Audience. She knew how to maneuver through security, where to sit for the best views and how to maneuver through a fervent crowd. She filled the waiting time with excellent knowledge of the basilica and St Peters square, so the wait time went by quickly. Our tour was to start at 7:45, we were asked to meet at 7:30 but our guide called us at 7:10 to encourage us to get there sooner. If you do this tour , you should arrive 30 minutes before start time as the guides are anxious to get good seats in the square.

Valentina was amazinggggggggg! This is the best tour we did in Rome and Wowow very smooth process and amazing experience. She was so knowledgeable and sweet and gave a lot of great tips. We did a lot of tours all over Italy but she was by far the best guide we had with the whet info and tips. It poured on us this day but it was still amazing and we got to see the Pope 3 times.

Matteo was really great!! He was knowledgeable and friendly! He took us in to the Vatican via the back way, so we weren’t waiting. He helped us find seats and told us where the best seats were (unfortunately most of them were taken), but we were free to roam about and leave the Grp if we wanted (most ppl did as we were seated in the middle- the best place is along the fence line as that is where the Pope’s route is). I am a female in my early 40’s and went alone. I felt very safe! You can not bring metal water bottles in and dress to cover your shoulders and knees.

Guide seemed flustered & was deeefinitely NOT assertive enough to deal with/the crowd & keep us moving along, spoke more German (for only 4 out of our entire grp) than English, kept holding our grp back so many other patrons went in front of us. We finally just left the guide & entered on our own. Because we did, we were able to get in quickly through security & waaayyy up front to be suuuper close (at barricade) to see Pope Leo XIV up close, wave, take pics & videos. ONLY because we broke away did we have the experience we did. We returned our headsets to the Bar place where our mtg pt was.

I know I was unhappy at the start of my tour with this guide as I thought they were slightly late in arriving. But this tour made my holiday in Rome! This guide (Alessandro) knew plenty about Rome & the Vatican, but crucially for this particular tour knew all the tricks to get us in just the right place at the right tme for me to get the perfect photo of Pope Leo XIV, up close & personal. I was even close enough to actually make eye contact with the Pope! Honestly, this made my holiday and I will remember it forever!