A Country Within a City: The Vatican
Ciao!
Rome is the capital city of Italy yet Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states.
It is the smallest state in the world both by area and population.
Important to keep in mind that when you are entering the Sistine chapel and the St. Peter's Basilica, you should be wearing something that covers your knees and shoulders.
We arrived at St. Peter's grounds on a rainy Monday morning. It was raining hard and we found it difficult to rome around Vatican City, so our travel director decided that we could visit Vatican early morning the next day before going to Florence.
We first entered the Vatican Museum, at first, i was a bit downhearted seeing so many people lining up at a very early time in the morning. Good thing, we traveled with Trafalgar (which has a slogan saying, "Simply the Best", which was proven true) hence, i was so glad to skip the line and we have an exclusive access to the museum.
What is Sistine Chapel? It is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace where the Pope resides (official residence inside the Vatican City)
Of course, inside the Sistine Chapel, everyone should observe proper church attire, knees and shoulders should be covered. though we were allowed to take photos anywhere in the city, we weren't allowed inside this chapel. the above picture was only a stolen shot of my camera phone of the ceiling. what makes this worthy of a stolen shot? worthy of disobeying rules? As you can see, the ceiling may look like it was made in three dimensions, but not. it was flat and the artists were so talented that looking above, they can make you believe it has more than one dimension. i didn't have the opportunity to capture the very popular, "The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo" in my secret cam. but in this ceiling where you can find that painting of Michaelangelo. He actually painted nine stories from the book of Genesis in that ceiling. and on contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo painted standing rather than what many believes that he painting lying in the scaffolding.
What you can actually see at my back was one of the Pontifical Swiss Guards. Pontifical Swiss Guards were one of the oldest military operations in the world and they are responsible for the safety of the Pope and the security of the whole apostolic palace. Who are qualified to be one of them? Why Swiss and not Italians? According to my readings only unmarried Swiss Catholic males raging 19-30 who have completed basic army training in the Swiss military can be qualified as one of the Swiss Pontifical Guards.
Rome is the capital city of Italy yet Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states.
It is the smallest state in the world both by area and population.
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| photo of the ticket for the vatican museum |
Important to keep in mind that when you are entering the Sistine chapel and the St. Peter's Basilica, you should be wearing something that covers your knees and shoulders.
We arrived at St. Peter's grounds on a rainy Monday morning. It was raining hard and we found it difficult to rome around Vatican City, so our travel director decided that we could visit Vatican early morning the next day before going to Florence.
We first entered the Vatican Museum, at first, i was a bit downhearted seeing so many people lining up at a very early time in the morning. Good thing, we traveled with Trafalgar (which has a slogan saying, "Simply the Best", which was proven true) hence, i was so glad to skip the line and we have an exclusive access to the museum.
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| entrance gate of the Vatican Museum |
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| Sistine Chapel ceiling |
Of course, inside the Sistine Chapel, everyone should observe proper church attire, knees and shoulders should be covered. though we were allowed to take photos anywhere in the city, we weren't allowed inside this chapel. the above picture was only a stolen shot of my camera phone of the ceiling. what makes this worthy of a stolen shot? worthy of disobeying rules? As you can see, the ceiling may look like it was made in three dimensions, but not. it was flat and the artists were so talented that looking above, they can make you believe it has more than one dimension. i didn't have the opportunity to capture the very popular, "The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo" in my secret cam. but in this ceiling where you can find that painting of Michaelangelo. He actually painted nine stories from the book of Genesis in that ceiling. and on contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo painted standing rather than what many believes that he painting lying in the scaffolding.
The Vatican Gardens. This is located in the west and owned by the Pope. This covers more than half of the city. there is no access to public but guided tours (in limited numbers) were allowed. Gladly, we traveled with Trafalgar and was able to see even a small area of the garden.
This is the pathway to the Sistine Chapel. everything inside the museum was really a magnificent work of art, that will leave your heart in awe. thinking all of it, including every tiny detail was made by world famous artists and took many years to accomplish and even hundreds of years to preserve.
this is inside St. Peter's Basilica. I am not a Roman Catholic myself. But looking at the details and architecture of this church, one can realize that God created human beings that were overflowing of so much talent. The design, the architecture, the totality of the building was really magnificent.
Grazie!
Addio!
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