Description
This full day tour combines the Artistic and Christian tours and includes lunch. From the galleries of the Vatican City to the monuments and shrines of the early church, this is a tour that will immerse you in the power and the glory of the Roman tradition.

Highlights: Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St John`s in Lateran, Holy Stairs, Old Appian Way, Catacombs.
Artistic Rome: Crossing the Aurelian Walls and the Park of Villa Borghese, we reach the Vatican Museums. During the visit you will admire: the Candelabra Gallery, the beautiful Tapestry Gallery and the interesting cartographic study in the Maps Gallery, the Raphael Rooms, entirely frescoed by the Master, and above all, the Sistine Chapel, where Popes are elected, with the "Genesis" and "Last Judgement" by Michelangelo, recently restored. After this portion of the tour we will enjoy lunch in a typical restaurant.
Christian Rome: After passing through Piazza Barberini, home of Bernini`s Triton Fountain, the tour begins at St. Mary Major, the beautiful basilica dedicated to Mary, the mother of Christ, with gorgeous mosaics and the relics of Jesus` crib. St. John of Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, is the next stop. The first Papal residence, St. John's is filled with masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the Baroque as well as the Scala Sancta (the Holy Stairs). Folowing the old Appian Way past the Church of Domine Quo Vadis, the tour arrives at the Catacombs of St. Domitilla, St. Calixtus, and St. Sebastian. These ancient underground tunnels were once the burial places for Jews and Christians. A panoramic view of the Baths of Caracalla ends the tour. Return to hotels at nearest point.
During some high travel periods (summer and religious holidays) it will be possible to find lengthy queues at the entrance of the museum.

Notes