Note: In my previous post, I listed down ways on how to travel for less in Europe. One of which is to just roam around and tour the many fab landmarks, museums and galleries which you can visit either for free or for a token fee.

If you want to extend that Roman holiday, you might even go to Vatican City. Enjoy!

Text and Photos by Nina Sarmiento

The Vatican City is the seat of the Pope, the leader of the Catholic flock. A sightseeing tour of Rome won’t be complete without a side trip to this walled enclave, a sovereign city state in Italy’s capital.

Vatican city is home to St. Peter’s Basilica, the most important church for the Catholics, as it stands at the site where St. Peter, considered to be the first Pope, was crucified. Whether you are a Catholic or not, you will love touring this place if only because you can’t get enough of Michelangelo’s artworks.

The church’s original designer was Bramante, but he died before finishing it. Guilliano De Sangallo continued the prpoject, but he also died before finishing it. Pope Paul enlisted Michelangelo to save the project. Most of the designs here were completed after his death and were amended by Giacomo della Porta. Gian Lorenzo Bernini did the finishing touches.

St. Peter's Basilica

On the basilica’s facade, there is a door on the extreme right that is only opened during the Holy Years, called Porta Santa.

The bronze doors of the basilica are decorated with reliefs depicting the scenes from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul, from their evangelization to their martyrdom

If you’ inside the basilica, everything seems to be small and intimate, but try walking and you will realize things are not near to each other as it seems. Take a look in one of the columns, on the base is sculpture of cherubs which seems to be small. Go nearer and you will see the cherub is the same height as an adult person. The statue above the cherub is bigger and the topmost statue is twice the height of the one below it. Michelangelo, made it this way, because perception wise you will see things smaller viewed from a far. This make everything looks even, which is why he adjusted the proportions of the statues. Now, don’t you just admire him????

Catholic pilgrims who visit this place view two sculptures here in Basilica with reverence: the bronze sculpture of St. Peter, created by Arnolfo di Cambio; and Michelangelo’s Pieta, the only work he actually signed.

Michelangelo's Pieta

If you want to get a very good view of St. Peter’s Square, the only way to go is through the Cupola or the Dome of the basilica. Take note, this is a 320 steps uphill, the steps are very steep and the stairways is narrow. This is not for the faint-hearted and claustrophobes. Climbing the steps is ideal for people like me who don’t like to exercise as this is equivalent to about a month’s worth of aerobics. If that’s not the thing, you can always take a lift and pay 7 euros. But this will only save you from climbing 220 steps, you need to climb 100 steps more.

You might also want to go to the Vatican Museums such as the Stanze di Raffaello and the Sistine Chapel.

On Stanze di Raffaello is at the the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. You can find here one of Italian Renaissance Painter Raphael’s painting called the School of Athens.t Try locating the greatest Greeck thinkers such as Zeno, Epicurus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Euclid, Ptolemy and hidden somewhere, an image of Raphael.

At the Sistine Chapel, prepare to stretch your neck, you will have to keep looking up to appreciate Michelangelo’s paintings. One painting has nine panels, depicting scenes from the Book of Genesis.

Sistine Chapel

The other is the Last Judgement which shows God as strong and merciless in punishing evil. The Virgin Mary is behind him, looking a bit helpless. You can see the good souls being pulled by the angels, rising up to go the heavenly paradise. While the bad souls were tortured by the devils, sinking down to hell’s damnation. Of all the figures in the fresco there is only one figure that is looking straight to the onlooker, a doomed soul hugging himself. And if you see a flayed skin on the center, that is Michelangelo himself.