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Message
Just got approved for the Vatican Necropolis (Scavi) tour.
Posted on 9/13/19 at 9:55 am
Posted on 9/13/19 at 9:55 am
Below St. Peter's. They only take 250 people a day. I am psyched.
I'll be in the 9am group. Guess I'll have to do the full Vatican tour in the afternoon. Anybody ever use The Roman Guy as tour guides? They get really good reviews.
I'll be in the 9am group. Guess I'll have to do the full Vatican tour in the afternoon. Anybody ever use The Roman Guy as tour guides? They get really good reviews.
10
Posted on 9/13/19 at 10:16 am to Slippy
Post lots of pics please.
Posted on 9/13/19 at 10:21 am to Slippy
That is on my bucket list. I have been to the Vatican several times, including for the Pope's Easter Sunday mass, but I have never had the opportunity to take the Scavi tour. I will try to do it next time.
Posted on 9/13/19 at 3:34 pm to Slippy
I was super close to getting in last time. Enjoy.
Posted on 9/13/19 at 3:54 pm to Slippy
It was one of the coolest/most interesting experiences of my life, and I’m not remotely religious. No photos allowed, though. Descending beneath the basilica and emerging onto the “street” of the raised-tomb first century cemetery was surreal, and felt quite eerily familiar if you grew up in south LA visiting cemeteries with above ground tombs. The tombs are full of multi cultural symbolism, Roman and Eastern: it was a big visual reminder of how vast the Roman Empire, and how geographically diverse Ancient Rome’s inhabitants were.
Frankly, I’d do the Scavi one day and go see the church in the afternoon. Don’t try to stuff the Vatican museums into the same day. The museums are a long, long forced march ending in the Sistine Chapel. Better to do that in the morning, as early as possible to get to the chapel when it’s still relatively empty. Also, you can mail postcards from VC if you have friends/family who would be interested in the VC stamps and postmark.
Frankly, I’d do the Scavi one day and go see the church in the afternoon. Don’t try to stuff the Vatican museums into the same day. The museums are a long, long forced march ending in the Sistine Chapel. Better to do that in the morning, as early as possible to get to the chapel when it’s still relatively empty. Also, you can mail postcards from VC if you have friends/family who would be interested in the VC stamps and postmark.
Posted on 9/15/19 at 9:10 pm to Slippy
Did it very cool experience. The entire city blew my mind. Was sorry to hear about them restricting access to Spanish Steps. That was my fav area.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 9:30 am to Slippy
Did a priest arrange this for you ? Or did you do it yourself?
Posted on 9/16/19 at 9:40 am to Lsupimp
quote:
Did a priest arrange this for you ? Or did you do it yourself?
To get a tour, you simply email the Scavi office with a range of dates/times you are available. They will try to fit you in if space is available. The likelihood of getting a tour increases with far advance notice and flexibility.
Here's the Scavi website with instructions: LINK
Ticket, if selected, is around $15.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 9:46 am to hungryone
Gotcha. I know Father Bayhi has done a VIP tour ( my words) for people I know in Baton Rouge that includes access and meals etc.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 10:47 am to Lsupimp
Yep I went w Jeff he’s a personal friend.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 11:06 am to Slippy
I was approved last week also. I am going during Mardi Gras. Got a 9:00 tour, but was hoping to do the early tour at Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's Basilica. I only have a few days in Rome and was hoping to knock out all things Vatican in one day.
What do you guys suggest- being that it will be a low season, just hit the Sistine/St. Peter's with the crowds after the tour? Or come back the next day for the "Beat the Crowd" tour?
What do you guys suggest- being that it will be a low season, just hit the Sistine/St. Peter's with the crowds after the tour? Or come back the next day for the "Beat the Crowd" tour?
Posted on 9/16/19 at 11:38 am to slinger1317
You can easily still do it in a day. The place is so big I’ve never felt super crowded any of the times I went . Feb/March should be sparse.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 12:17 pm to slinger1317
quote:
. I only have a few days in Rome and was hoping to knock out all things Vatican in one day.
What do you guys suggest- being that it will be a low season, just hit the Sistine/St. Peter's with the crowds after the tour? Or come back the next day for the "Beat the Crowd" tour?
I wouldn't try to "knock out all things Vatican" in one day. It's an experience, a place, a site of epic historic and religious significance to many in the world. Why treat it like a checklist visit? Break it into two half days....you'll enjoy the experience much more.
AFAIK, the only way to visit the Sistine Chapel is via the Vatican Museums. The VM are horribly crowded, with long lines to enter and masses of group tours of pilgrims from around the world. Just the AM lines at opening stretch for blocks. It is well worth doing an early, group-entry tour ticket, even if you just get the group entry and subsequently do a self guided tour. You can move through the museum at your own pace, spending less time in the last part (mediocre contemporary ecclesiastical art, imho) and skip much of it to get to the Sistine Chapel before the hordes.
St Peter's is a separate experience....sure, you can follow up a long, crowded museum experience with a bustling, busy humongous crowded church visit...but why?
Go to the Scavi for the 9 am tour; follow it up with a visit to St Peter's. You will appreciate the church so much more for having visited the Scavi & will be suitably impressed that you were so far below the Baldacchino & high altar.
Go back the next AM to do the Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel.
Just my $0.02, and I've been to Rome a dozen or so times and toured the Scavi, the church many times, and the Museums twice.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 12:55 pm to hungryone
Thanks, I was hoping you would chime in with some advice. Once I get a little closer to the trip I may ask for your input on our itinerary. We are doing Rome/Tuscany for 8 days.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 1:34 pm to slinger1317
quote:
Once I get a little closer to the trip I may ask for your input on our itinerary. We are doing Rome/Tuscany for 8 days.
Happy to assist. Always happy to remind people to slow down, it's not a race. Leave time to stop in a likely looking coffee bar for an espresso, or to follow the sound of a splashing fountain or look through an interesting gateway. Rush, rush, rush and you will miss the quiet, beautiful, and typically Italian moments that are easily overwhelmed by masses of tourists in a hurry.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 1:37 pm to Slippy
We used the roman guy and it was good - keep in mind most tour guides are Italian and will have some thick accents. Overall very informative though.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 3:16 pm to hungryone
You have to request by fax? No e-mail?
Interesting.
Interesting.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 3:30 pm to LSUFanHouston
quote:
You have to request by fax? No e-mail?
I submitted my request via email. They contacted me a few days later.
Posted on 9/16/19 at 3:45 pm to LSUFanHouston
I know the web page lists fax, but I emailed:
scavi@fsp.va
scavi@fsp.va
Posted on 9/16/19 at 4:31 pm to Slippy
I went to the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania where they had several hundred mummified bones underneath the church. Pretty creepy.
LINK
quote:
After they died, the wealthiest and most prominent residents of 18th-century Vilnius, Lithuania, were interred beneath the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit, in the center of town. Decades later, they were joined by the bodies of Napoleonic troops who had perished while headed home to France after their defeat in Russia.
LINK
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