Two-hour Walking Tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel & Saint Peter’s Basilica with 7 Stars Tours

The Vatican Museums are extensive and massive, with much more to see than you expect. 7 Stars Tours has an inside track on understanding the way to make the most of your time inside the museum, seeing the best it has to offer when you don’t have all day to see everything. 

The Sistine chapel, the highlight, is noted for its classical renaissance masterpieces covering the walls, the most famous of those frescoed by Michelangelo Buonarotti in the 16th century.

However, the chapel is accessible only from within the Vatican museums. A visitor must purchase a museum ticket and then figure out their way around through the vast, complex array of buildings to arrive inside the chapel. 

7 Stars Tours offers a two-hour itinerary tour, a walk through showing the best the museum has to offer in the most efficient way.  This includes: 

– Vatican Picture Gallery – to take photographs of amazing works of art by famous artist such as Giotto, Melozzo da Forli, Da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Raffaello Sanzio. 

– Next is the Pio-Clementino Museum – which includes the Octagonal Courtyard and Room of the Muses, displaying incredible ancient Greek sculptures that have been the inspiration for many artists. These include the famous Laocoön group, Apollo Belvedere and the Belvedere Torso, which Michelangelo interprets and brings to life in his artworks of the Sistine Chapel.

– The tour continues walking briskly with no stopping to lecture through three other galleries of the museum:  Gallery of the Candelabrumm which takes its name from the majestic candelabras that accompanying the colored marble columns; Gallery of Tapestries, wonderous craftsmanship from the 1500s and 1600s; the Gallery of Maps, incredible aerial maps of the Italian peninsula frescoed in the late 1500s and the amazing ceiling above them, then straight to the Sistine Chapel.

The tour concludes with a swift passage to St. Peter’s Basilica and a brief introduction to the wonders it contains. You then can visit the basilica at your leisure.  Please note, due to the Pope’s activities, including the General Public Audience, this passage is not always open. But 7 Stars will know this in advance and advise clients of this situation. 

Also, like other agencies and depending on the crowds entering the museum, there can be a slight wait to get headsets and then enter the museum which can put the total tour time over 2 hours. However, once inside it is a swift walk through.

The interview is with Musad Shah Alam Mia, the founder and owner of 7 Stars Tours. The aim is to help visitors choose a tour agency. 7 Stars is located close to the Vatican Museum (on Via Santamaura 12, a side street down from the entrance to the Vatican Museums).   Depending on the your available amount of time, you may want to consider this excellent tour. It is a brisk, steady paced, well planned two-hours walking tour. This tour includes a lot in this short time span- the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and concluding at Saint Peter’s Basilica. 

What brought you to Italy, and how and what made you decide to operate your own travel agency? 

Musad:

When I arrived in Italy, my goal was to establish a well-run business that served a global clientele, thus I chose this particular area. Initially, I gained very useful experience working with other people and learning how the system worked for visitors to the Vatican Museums. Then I studied and investigated how to adapt it to an on-line business. Now I am an official, accredited tour operator with offices close to the museum and am proud to help people get best possible visit to the museum. 

How do you  manage a visitor’s expectations, given there will always be at least some small wait in processing entrance tickets and given the likelihood of crowds? and what is your overall mission, and how do you fulfill it?

Musad:

Customer satisfaction is always a top priority for me. We have advance tickets, but with current security, there is always a bit of a wait when you enter. This is similar to all other tour agencies that enter, no matter what they state about this.

However, I use passionate, knowledgeable guides that are fantastic at navigating rapidly and with ease and thoughtfulness through the crowds of people. 

I am hard working and organized. My goal is to have an excellent product, but with kindness behind it for all the people involved, including the guides, that work for me and use my services. For example, I use highly experienced independent Vatican Tour guides like Brenda Lee Bohen and Andrea Stoler amongst others to bring intracacies of the Vatican Museums to life.

What does 7 stars mean? When people think of excellence, they might say 5-star treatment, 5 stars is the max. Your business is 7 Stars: what does this mean?

Musad:

There are many stars in the sky which are shining, bright and beautiful. I have seven members in my family which are all stars to me. I desire a bright, shining, wonderful experience for those who use my services. Thus, I chose the name 7 Stars.

Do you provide private tours?

Musad:

Yea, I also provide three-hour tours that include the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, Saint Peter’s Basilica with Square. The tour can be completely private for a couple or a family. I also offer semi-private tours for two couples or two families sharing a private tour. In addition, visitors can also contact my online booking website 
https://myvaticantrip.com/   to make their preferred request.

Both Brenda Lee Bohen and Andrea Stoler are independent tour specialists who engage with various agencies which cater to a discerning clientele.

Their expertise renders the Vatican Museum an enjoyable experience.

*This article was written with contributions from Andrea Stoler