Welcome to the smallest and most powerful Country in the world: an absolute monarchy seated in the heart of the city of hospitality, which is democratic and multi-ethnic by its birthright. The ancient “ager vaticanus”, or the hill where the Vatican State stands, is known all over the world for being the site where the apostle Peter is buried, in the Circus of Nero, which is situated exactly in this area.
Today it is still possible to see the tomb of the Saint while visiting the Vatican necropolis. On this tomb the emperor Constantine erected, in the IV Century A.D., the most venerated basilica in the world. From the projects of Bramante to the dome of Michelangelo, from the sculptures of Arnolfo di Cambio to those of Bernini, Borromini, Algardi and Canova, the most important temple in Catholicism amazes the onlookers for the magnificence of the decorations, the enormous dimensions, the holiness of the spaces. And this is only the beginning. From Laocoon to the frescoed paintings by Beato Angelico, from Michelangelo to the Egyptian mummies, from Etruscan handcrafts to the works of Raphael, Matisse and Burri, from The Apollo of the Belvedere to the Boxer of Canova, from the Hallway of the Maps to the Sistine Chapel, from Giotto to Pinturicchio, from Leonardo to Caravaggio, these inimitable collections retrace the history of humankind from antiquity to the present day.
Walking through the corridors you can almost hear the whispers of the conversations between Bramante and Julius II, see Raphael spying on the frescoes of Michelangelo, his influential rival, smell the persistent and acerbic clouds of smoke from the conclaves of the Sistine Chapel.