The Papal Apartments

The Vatican's Papal Apartments are amazing spaces, those of Julius II and Leo X frescoed by Raphael, and those of Alexander VI frescoed by Pinturicchio

Vatican Museums—Papal Apartments
Viale Vaticano (on the north side of the Vatican City walls, between where Via Santamaura and the Via Tunisi staircase hit Viale Vaticano; about a 5–10 minute walk around the walls from St. Peter's).
tel. +39-06-6988-4947
www.vatican.va
Book tickets: Select Italy or Viator.com

Open Mon–Sat 9am–6pm (last entry: 4pm)
Also open the last Sun of each month 9:30am–2pm—and it's free!... and terribly crowded
For other closed dates, see "tips" below
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Vatican tours
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Walking Tour including Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and St Peter's
• Context: Arte Vaticana: Our Vatican Tour including Sistine Chapel and St. Peters (with reservations)
• Context: Vatican Collections
• Skip the Line: Vatican in One Day
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Tickets
• Private Tour: Vatican Museums Walking Tour
• Context: Vatican for Families
• Private Viewing of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums
• Context: Afterhours Vatican Museums Visit
• Context: Evening Vatican Tour
• Private Tour: Vatican Museums and St Peter's Art History Walking Tour
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Tour
• Skip the Line: Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica Half-Day Walking Tour

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The Stanza della Segnatura in Rome's Vatican, frescoed by Raphael
The "Raphael Rooms" of the Vatican.No, you can't visit Benedict's private quarters—but those of some past popes are open to visitors.

Even a quickie tour through the Vatican Museums will dip into several past Papal apartment suites.

Two of the papal suites really stand out (plus one private chapel once used by a pope):

The Raphael Rooms - Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate his personal chambers. While Raphael worked, Julius II passed on and Leo X inherited the papal throne. Raphael smoothly started incorporating Leo's face into the rooms' frescoes as he went.
- Stanza dell'Incendio - Includes the Borgo Fire.
- Stanza della Segnatura - Includes the famous School of Athens.
- Stanza di Eliodoro - Includes the Expulsion of Heliodorus.
- Stanza di Constantino - Includes the Vision of the Cross.
Chapel of Nicholas V - Gorgeous, hidden, closet-sized chapel entirely frescoed by Fra' Angelico.
Borgia Apartments - Modern art on the walls, but with ceiling and frescoes by early Renaissance Umbrian master Pinturicchio.

Tips

Planning your day: Altogether, expect the Papal Apartment part of visiting the Vatican to take about 40–60 minutes (depending on how long you spend in the choice Raphael Rooms), but expect to spend all day at the Vatican. Two days if you can swing it. Even on a tight schedule, expect to pretty much spend one full day seeing the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's together. They're worth it. Warning: The ticket office closes 2 hours before the museum, with the last entry at 4pm.
The Vatican Museums are most crowded on Sundays ('cause they're free) and many Wednesdays ('cause in the morning St. Peter's itself is often closed for the papal audience in the piazza, so everyone who doesn't have tickets walks around the walls to kill time inside the museums, and by afternoon all the audience-goers join them).
Book ahead: You can book entry tickets ahead of time to help avoid the lines, which can last for up to an hour or so in the summer. However, this adds a €4 fee to the already steep admission of €15 at www.vatican.va. Or you can do it online via one of our partners:
- Select Italy: Vatican Museums and Sisitine Chapel
- Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Tickets
Book a Vatican tour: There are two-hour tours of the museums and Sistine Chapel available (in English usually at 10:30am) for €30–€35 per person. For more info: tel. +39-06-6988-3145 or www.vatican.va. If you prefer a private guided tour of the Vatican and its museums, book one via our partner sites Viator.com or Context Travel:
The Vatican Museums are closed Sundays—except on the last Sunday of the month...
The Vatican Museums are free on the last Sunday of each month, when they are intensely crowded and stay open until 2pm (last entry: 12:30pm). They're also free on Sept. 27 (World Tourism Day). If the Sunday falls on a church holiday, however, they're closed (see next tip).
The Vatican Museums are closed on all church holidays: Jan. 1, Jan. 6, Feb. 11, Mar. 19, Easter Sunday and Monday, May 1, May 21, June 11, June 29 (Feast of St. Peter and Paul—major Roman holiday), Aug. 14–15 (everything is closed in Rome on Aug. 15; head to Santa Maria Maggiore for mass with a "snowfall" of rose petals), Nov. 1, Dec. 8, Dec. 25 (Merry Christmas!), Dec. 26 (Santo Stefano—huge in Italy).
Note that the Vatican Museums close surprisingly early (last entry 4pm, doors close 6pm). So see them first, then walk around the walls to visit St. Peter's.
Dress code?: Recently, the Vatican (or at least some guards) seems to have decided that you must dress "appropriately" to visit any part of Vatican City—including the museums—and not just St. Peter's, where a dress code has long applied. Err on the side of caution and make sure you arrive with no bare shoulders, knees or midriffs. (If it's hot and you want to wear a tank top around town that day, just bring a light shawl to cover your shoulders while inside; on packing the right items for an Italy trip.)
How to get to the Vatican Museums: Cipro-Musei Vaticani is the closest Metro stop (on the A line, about 7 blocks northwest of the entrance; just follow the crowds). Otherwise, bus 49 stops right in front of the museum entrance (you can catch it from Piazza Cavour, or anywhere along Via Cescenzio, which passes the very northern tip of the piazza around Castel Sant'Angelo)

The Papal Suites: Raphael Rooms, Borgia Apartments, Chapel of Nicholas V
All the Vatican Museums
St. Peter's Basilica - Capital of Christendom
Museums in Rome
Churches in Rome
An audience with the Pope
All the works by Michelangelo in Rome
More sights in the Vatican Borgo neighborhood

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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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The Papal Apartments

The Vatican's Papal Apartments are amazing spaces, those of Julius II and Leo X frescoed by Raphael, and those of Alexander VI frescoed by Pinturicchio

Tips

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