Private Vatican VIP After-Hours: Exclusive Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

Rosalba and a driver picked us up at our hotel. We arrived at the entrance to the Vatican Museums shortly before 5 PM (the museums close at 4 pm). After passing a quick security check Rosalba showed us the mostly empty rooms of the Museums (save for some guards and occasional maintenance workers) with its endless collections of statues, frescos, paintings and tapestries. Rosalba had a lot of interesting information to share, pointed out hidden details and even kept our youngest one interested and entertained. Among others we saw the Gallery of Candelabrae and the Gallery of Tapestries. Strolling alone through the long Gallery of Maps with its ceiling glittering in gold and medieval maps of Italy hanging from the walls was an otherworldly experience, but just a sign of things to come. The Raphael Rooms with their frescos were another highlight. The crowning part was the Sistine Chapel, however, which we had all to ourselves for about 20 minutes. Due to sheer luck we were there during the single week when all of ten Raphael's tapestries were hung in the Sistine Chapel in celebration of 500 years of his death. So we not only got to seem them all at once, but also in the location they were originally intended for - and not at the Vatican Pinacoteca. After leaving the chapel we passed through long corridors full of Roman artifacts and left the museums through the Spiral Staircase. We'd like to thank Rosalba and her team from Eyes of Rome for the experience of a lifetime!

Our private tour guide Barbara met with us at our hotel lobby around 14:00 saturday in the afternoon. We asked her if she is able to arrange a 3 hours private tour to Vatikan. We were late but she did her best to arrange tickets and everything. She was great! I will tell all my friends around me who needs a tour guide in Rome! If I go back there again for sure I will hire Barbara again. Thank You Barbara De Rosa. All the best...

Denis Pasolini arrived at my hotel a bit early for my evening tour of the Vatican and I am so grateful he did. He used that extra time to take me to the Palladium, as well as another famous square and fountain (spaced on the name but it was beautiful). The tour of the Vatican was great, but made 1000 times better by the scholarly knowledge that Denis imparted throughout. His details were interesting and insightful. I've been on countless tours and so often they're dull. Not with the very handsome Denis. The Vatican, as you've likely heard, is overwhelming in scope and art and beauty. Truth is, I would've sped through this site on my own, but with Denis guiding me through with fascinating stories, I just relaxed into it and enjoyed.

Barbara was a great tour guide and very informative. We enjoyed our tour and would highly recommend the personal attention from a private tour.

I can't tell you how awesome our private tour was for us. Roberta was phenomenal and I would highly highly recommend her - she was so passionate, moved as fast or as slow as we wanted, had so much information that we would not have learned in a larger group or going on our own. We absolutely LOVED her and our tour.